COVELIGHT: A POKEMON AU
by SavageCaliber22
Summary: In the neon-soaked future of 2207, on a continent inhabited only by Pokemon. A lone Snivy finds himself on the run from an entire organization after discovering an ancient power hidden within him. With no memory and nowhere to go, he teams up with a couple rogue agents in the organization in hopes of rediscovering his past and finding out why he's being hunted.
1. Lore 1 - Celatia

**Author's Note.**

**Hey there, I'm Elysium. The Creator of the Covelight Arc for the Robber Force Series, A Pokemon Alternate Universe. **

**This story takes place in an alternate universe of our creation, with its own lore and timeline. This means that certain aspects of Pokemon's lore is altered to conform to this alternate timeline and tell a better story (For instance: Giratina controlling gravity instead of antimatter.)**

**Some parts of the lore will be scattered in between chapters. Think of it like those screens that show before/after commercial breaks in anime that explain parts of the lore.**

_**This story is rated Mature for Heavy Violence, Colorful language, and occasional gore. Viewer Discretion is advised.**_

**Anyways, we hope that you all will enjoy this new update and we look forward to hearing your opinion. This...is COVELIGHT**

* * *

Almost all Pokemon Originate from the continent of Celatia, a land around the size of Australia that is at the center of the pacific ocean. The inhabitants, known today as "Alpha Pokemon" developed civilization and thrived in peace. That is until humanity discovered them and captured half of Celatia's population, those that were captured and eventually domesticated, became the "Beta" Pokemon you see everywhere today, weaker than their Celatian ancestors and more loyal towards humanity. Celatia since then has closed their borders, showing extreme hostility toward any human or Beta pokemon near their home, out of fear of once again being captured and used as slaves. Without human influence, they have flourished at a rate 3 times as fast as humanity allowing them to pass human technology by decades. Celatia quickly became the world leader in Technology. Today however, strides are being made to become more welcoming of humanity and multiple Celatians have begun exploring the outside world, usually allying with trainers who treat their Pokemon well.

In the year 2187. Reyes Nocturne, a Darkrai and Alan Helter, an Abra, founded a mafia called Robber Force. As un-creative as its name was, it became Celatia's most feared mafia. However, Team Galactic invaded. This caused Robber Force to shift it's ways and defend the world from the Ruin, a massive creature being controlled by Galactic. They were successful. However, in 2189 A civil war broke out between whether Robber Force should stay a Mafia, or become a force for good.

Reyes and Alan were defeated by Yami Nightbring, a Zoroark, and Mayrum Covelight, a young Quilava. Solidifying the Idea of Robber Force being a force for good. For a decade, Robber Force became a symbol of hope. However, Yami had a child, something that had been agreed on that there would be no legacy to Robber Force. Mayrum, enraged, exiled all of his followers, which consisted of half of all Robber Force.

Now, in 2207, The Nightbring Clan, a clan founded by Yami and led by his son, Vision. Inhabit the territory north of Celatia's veil river, the river that divides the continent in two. whereas the Covelight, led by Mayrum, inhabit the southern side. The two factions are fighting a civil war with no end in sight.

...and this is where our story begins…


	2. Chapter 1: Awakening

**Chapter 1: Awakening**

"Hey, he's awake, he's awake!"

Various sounds are heard, muffled as they surround me. I groan as I struggle to open my eyes, I can see only light. Before the light fades away as the beam of a flashlight is diverted away from me. "What...what happened?" I say as press my hand to my head. I quickly look around the room, I'm in a hospital room. There are many doctors running around. One approaches me, a Nidoqueen. "Hi there, I'm Doctor Shen. A group of hikers found you unconscious following what sounded like an explosion. Can you tell me what happened?" she asks me, I take a minute to think.

"I don't remember an explosion. In fact, I don't remember anything…" I reply. Her eyes widen bit, "Can you at least tell me your name?" she asks. I think even harder.

"Its...Jackson." I finally explain, "Jackson...Chaser? Something like that." I follow. The Doctor then turns to her assistant, "Plug that name in, maybe we'll get something." she orders, before turning to me. "It seems like you've got amnesia, which makes no sense. We've detected no presence of Synaptic dampening, nor have you withstanded any major head trauma. So we're going to run you through the databases, see if we can find any family or a home in general."

The assistant walks over with a holographic screen in front of her, which she expands to float above the foot of my bed. The assistant speaks.

"Jackson Chaser, 15 years old. Currently a recruit in the Covelight military. Youngest son of Scarlet Chaser, father is Ex-Robber Force, Alexander Chaser. Has a brother named Callum. Every single one of them has been missing for months. Their home abandoned during that time."

I stare up at the screen. All of the information seems foreign to me, like it doesn't belong to me. The Nidoqueen then notices something. "Hang on, your eyes are slightly different than in the photo." She explains, I look up at the picture, It's your average Snivy with gold eyes, not particularly uncommon. Finally the Doctor hands me a mirror, I gaze into it. My eyes are the same as in the photo, however there's a blue slash going diagonally across my Iris. The slash seems to ignore any amount of shading on it. Suddenly the door opens as a Quilava enters the room, he has a look in his eyes that really unsettles me, why this is I don't know. He approaches me, "Thought you could hide from me, Chaser?" He asks me. "I don't know what you're talking about…How do you know me?" I ask. The Quilava laughs, then starts circling my hospital bed, there's an aura of dread surrounding him, though nobody else seems to notice. "Does the name Mayrum Covelight mean anything to you?" he asks. "While familiar, I don't remember anything! So whatever you want, just tell me!" I shout, getting a bit scared. "You're a wanted man, Chaser. So I'm going to have to take you in." He explains.

A surge of adrenaline shoots through me. I'm not sure why, but I rip out my IV and make a beeline for the door as soon as Mayrum is behind me. "Oh no you don't!" He shouts, flicking out a metal rod that's sparking with electricity. I quickly exit the room, which sits at the end of a hallway, I run the opposite direction.

"_Why am I running?! What is happening?!" _I think to myself as I look up at the signs above me. I see one of them marked 'emergency exit' I follow that direction.

"All units! I'm in pursuit of the suspect! He's heading for the emergency exit!" I hear Mayrum shout from behind me. After dodging and weaving past multiple staff members and patients. I crash through the exit door, ending up in a back alley. I make a wrong turn and find myself at a dead end. "Oh no…" I mutter as I turn around. Mayrum too rushes out, he sees my predicament and laughs.

"Nowhere to run now." he explains. I attempt to calm myself down and speak, "Hey listen. I've lost all my memories. I have no idea what's happening! I don't even know why I'm running! What did I even do?" I ask. Mayrum pauses, then touches his hand to his ear, "Ducati, take the shot." he orders. My adrenaline kicks in again. Before I notice my body filling with sudden power. My arms suddenly form what looks to be a glowing stripe down the center of the back and front of my arms, before ending at my wrists. The back and palm of my hands then form a singular white triangle. "What the-" Mayrum exclaims before my arm thrusts itself forward. A ball of white light forms in front of my arm, before launching forward and hitting Mayrum square in the chest, exploding in a flash of light. Launching him out of the Alleyway and into a car. The surrounding area sparks with energy. "Holy fuck!" I shout as I fall backwards, I look at my hand. "What the hell did I just do?" I look to Mayrum. He's on the ground, groaning, but still alive. I look to the wall behind me and use that same ability to blast the wall down, Revealing another section of alleyway.

I sprint down it and into the neon soaked streets, I've just noticed that it's night time. I don't know where I'm going, nor do I have any objective. I just run to get away. I hear Sirens everywhere. Before a sports car speeds through an intersection before slamming on brakes in front of me at the crosswalk. I stop as to not slam into it. The window rolls down to see a Greninja with green eyes staring at me, "Get in! I'm here to help!" he shouts. I hesitate, questioning the situation, before I see a Police car blazing toward us down the road. "Fuck's sake COME ON!" The Greninja shouts. I waste no time and enter the vehicle. The Greninja slams on the throttle and speeds away. The Police car rounds the corner and enters pursuit of us. "That thing you did back there! Do you think you can do that again?" He asks. I look at my hands, they're still glowing. I lean out of the window and hold my arm out towards them. The same ball of light forms in front of my hand, before quickly hurtling itself into the front of the Car, Exploding. The car spins out and immediately deactivates. I hear the Greninja laughing. I lean back in. "Bloody incredible mate! I'm Cobalt! Cobalt Ducati." He explains. Cobalt speaks with a Southeastern Celatian Accent, which is reminiscent of that of a New Zealand/Austrailian accent.

"Jackson." I reply. Cobalt then rounds a corner. "I'm one of the Elites of Covelight. One of the best of the best. However, I've started having suspicions that something's not right with Mayrum, our leader. I looked and there's absolutely nothing on your record. No reason to go after you, but for some reason that's exactly what's happening." He explains. "So why are you helping me?" I ask. "Because I know what you are. What your power is. I know that you have nothing to do with this, but if Mayrum wants you dead then something is definitely wrong here. I intend to find out."

I lean forward, "You...know what I am?" I ask. He enters a tunnel, "I do. Are you aware of the Nightbring Clan?" he asks in response. "I don't remember anything...but the name is familiar." I reply. Cobalt glances at me, "They have something in their religion called Chosen. Those who are gifted with the divine elements to protect the balance of good and evil." He explains. "So...what? You think I'm one of these 'Chosen' then?" I ask him. "I have a hunch. You have no memory and you can tap into abilities nobody else can. Pretty textbook from what I've heard. Since you're using strictly light as your powers, I'd say you're a Chosen of Light. Specifically." He continues. I look down at my palms, the markings fade away. I look to him, "Well since all of Covelight is after me, what's your plan?" I ask.

He puts the car on autodrive and brings up a map on a hologram. "Let's see…" he starts, before pointing on the map. "Right now we're in Aerocroft, South Celatia's capital city in the Urami Province." He scrolls up on the map and points to a new location. "I have a cabin up north a few miles away from Camaro near the Zares Province. We're going to have to take the ferry. Once we get to the cabin, we can use that as a home base where we do some investigating."

I sigh, he looks to me. "You alright mate?" He asks. "It's just that...I wake up and suddenly everything goes absolutely crazy. I'm...a bit overwhelmed, really. But, if where we're going leads to answers, you can count me in."

Cobalt nods, "That's what I like to hear." he remarks. I turn to him, "How'd you know where I was and where to grab me?" I ask. "I was assigned as a recon for this mission. I saw you in the alleyway through my scope, but from what Mayrum's microphone was feeding me, it seemed like he had the wrong person. So when Mayrum told me to take the shot. I didn't, and you ended up blasting him either way. From there I just got in my car and drove around the area until I found you."

I have more questions for Cobalt, but I decide to hold off for a while. I gaze out the window and take in the new, yet oddly familiar sights. The road is lit up in blue streetlights, a kind of Aqua blue that turns the red Plasteel body of the car, which I've noticed is called a 'Kerzeo Neo', a vibrant pink color. Accenting the blue are Neon signs that blur by, creating a mix of purple, red, yellow, pink, and many others when looking out the windows. I get a sense of nostalgia that I can't place.

I think to myself. "_Why can't I remember anything? They said I had withstanded no injury so what might have transpired to have caused this all to happen?"_ I look to my palm, "_I wonder...if these powers might have something to do with all this." _I think to myself.

Cobalt looks to me, "Mind if I turn on the radio?" he asks. I shake my head, he pushes a button on the console. An upbeat, synthy track starts blasting through the stereo.

"_Surrounded by streetlights at midnight, my destination is unknown._

_I walk these empty streets alone._

_Digital dreams thrive in the moonlight, I'm only flesh, circuit, and bone._

_I walk these empty streets alone, I walk these empty streets alone!"_

**Meanwhile…**

Mayrum steps into his office, furious. He quickly storms over and sits down in his chair, before pounding on the metal table in front of him, denting it in the process.

"Well? Did you capture him?" a voice is heard across the room. Mayrum looks in the direction to see an Umbreon sitting in the corner of the room. Her rings are red. With the rings on her head, shoulders and thighs being replaced with red squares that have been rotated a 45 degree angle. Mayrum sighs, "No. He got away, and Elite Lieutenant Ducati is nowhere to be found. I'm sorry Ava." He apologises. The Umbreon, now known as Ava, narrows her eyes and starts walking toward him, "I'm disappointed in you, Covelight. I thought that with your forces he should have been unable to escape." She growls. "He won't be on the run for long, I'm sending all forces after them." He replies, Ava smiles, "Excellent. I too have prepared for if this failed." She explains, pulling up a holographic screen and materialising a blueprint, before handing it to Mayrum. He looks it over, "Ma'am. This is a schematic for a basic Genesect Drone." He retorts. Ava shakes her head, "Not with the modifications I've designed. This one is designed to kill his kind. I want your engineers to begin work immediately." She orders, before opening the door to leave. "I won't fail you, mistress." He says, breaking a sweat. Ava smiles, "I know. Because you know what happens if you do." She explains. Causing Mayum's heart to drop.

A flash occurs in his mind, with his vision suddenly changing to a black void, swirling red mist covering the landscape. In front of him he sees another Quilava, Bound up by chains above a field of sharp spikes and blades. Mayrum is frozen. The other looks at Mayrum with tears in his eyes. "B-Brother! Mayrum! H-help me!" he screams, before his face starts distorting, along with distorted screaming. Mayrum can do nothing, he can only stare in horror.

Suddenly he screams and sits bolt upright in his desk. He collapses after a brief period of shock and bursts into tears. The door opens, Mayrum quickly composes himself. He finds a Snivy with bright blue eyes standing in the doorway, staring at him. "I heard screaming, is everything alright Mayrum?" She asks the Quilava. He nods, "Y-yeah. I just dozed off for a bit...you know how it is. We'll head home in a bit, so just be patient, okay Violet?" he asks. The Snivy now known as Violet nods her head, "Alright." She says, leaving back into the hallway. She pulls out a butterfly knife and begins twirling it in her fingers. Multiple flashbacks fill her mind.

…

Violet gets kicked to the ground. Groaning in pain. "No! No Groaning! It will give you no Sympathy! You shall know no pain, no remorse, no mercy!" A voice on an intercom shouts. She quickly stands up in the center of the large room, covered floor to ceiling in aluminum plating. She stares down the simulated Tyranitar in front of her. It screeches at her. She steels her courage and readies her knife, before leaping onto the Tyranitar and performing multiple precision lacerations on its knees, jugular and finally throat before hitting it to the ground with leaf blade. The Tyranitar collapses in pain and explodes into fragments of light.

"Weak. You were 2 seconds slower at killing it than last time. AGAIN." The voice shouts again, before another Hologram appears and quickly hits Violet with Hyper Beam. She cries out as she slams into the back wall. She cries out in agony, blood dripping from her mouth and chest.

"Get up."

Violet only wallows further.

"GET UP D32!"

She starts choking. The voice sighs.

"Bring her in." He orders. Multiple Pokemon drag her out of the simulation room. A Gengar enters the room. "Pathetic D32. I hope I don't see you embarrass yourself tomorrow."

Violet is bandaged and thrown into a cell. Words start filling her mind, "Worthless, Pathetic, Weak." She curls up on the padded floor of her cell and breaks into tears.

**Alright! The Pilot is finally complete! Since the pre-rewrite version is still on my profile, you can compare it to the original. This is definitely going to be a ride! If there are any lore related questions or any other questions regarding the story that DON'T INVOLVE A MAJOR PLOT POINT, feel free to leave them in the reviews. Also, shout out to anyone who noticed that the song on the radio was "Empty Streets" By Scandroid. I included it because in my mind, Empty Streets will be the main theme of this story. On that note. See you next time!**


	3. Lore 2: Origins - The Chosen

**Lore 2: The Divines, Arceus, and The Chosen.**

There are legends of times before Arceus. While it is commonly believed that Arceus constructed the known universe. That's not the case.

At the dawn of existence, there existed 3 Divine entities. These entities were Elysium, The Divine of Light. Eternity, Divine of Darkness. And Evolution, The Divine of Shadow. Those were the ones responsible for the creation of reality. After meticulously using their resources to create every element, every law of physics, they desired more. So they decided to finally create life. This life started on Earth, the most hospitable planet of their creation. These life forms were called the Precursors. Each of these precursors had elements of their own, Time, Space, Matter, Gravity, Void, Fear, Purity, Blight. All of these elements were unique to them, as the Divines did not create them. For years, the Precursors flourished, they flourished so well that the Divines decided to show themselves to their creations. Instead of rejoice, however, The Precursors took sides, They formed cults based on the one of the three Divines that they believed, the cults then destroyed each other. However, there was one Precursor who survived.

This Precursor was one of the few who embraced all of the Divines. His name was Arceus. The Divines had little resources and could not bring back the precursors on their own. After much convincing. The Divines entrusted the rest of their resources to Arceus and fell into slumber.

Arceus, now with the power of all three Divines, and being born with the Matter Element. Arceus rebuilt the world, attempting to create Humanity and Mew, the first Pokemon. However, his creations were unable to survive on their plane of existence, so Arceus devised a plan.

The reason why the precursors were able to live was because they controlled the elements that shaped the fabric of their reality. So Arceus created Dialga, so that they could be affected by the flow of time. Palkia, so that they could live on the same plane of existence, and Giratina, so that they could be affected by the pull of gravity.

However, Giratina was unable to use its power efficiently, and thus was sealed away in it's own pocket dimension to practice it's powers. Finally, after millennia, Giratina was welcomed back into the universe and created stable gravity for the entire universe. Palkia too, made an error in creating space, accidentally creating a planet that occupies hundreds of areas of space at the same time and connecting it to the Continent of Nocturnia on Earth with wormholes that link to any of the planets. As the issue wasn't major, the group decided to leave it be.

Arceus tried again, and it worked. Humans were formed in Africa, and Mew on Celatia. Arceus, remembering what happened to the Precursors, decided to send in a countermeasure to help prevent unnecessary conflict. He synthesised each of the Divine's elements, as well as the Precursor's elements and sent them out into the world. Creating the first Chosen, holding the world's power in their hands in order to help keep balance to the world either by stopping evil or becoming evil.

The most powerful 'Aspects' are the ones granted from the Divines themselves.

Light, the representation of Elysium. Light Chosen are granted the ability to manipulate light into various forms: Balls of energy, blades, floating spikes, as well as being able to travel short distances at light speed, turn invisible, and create illusions. While Light is generally seen as good and heroic, there's nothing stopping a Chosen of Light from being evil, too.

Darkness, the representation of Eternity. Darkness Chosen are the more violent cousins to Light Chosen. As they can do most of the things that Light can do. Again, the same rule applies, Darkness Chosen aren't necessarily evil.

Shadow, the representation of Evolution. Shadow Chosen are a hybrid, a mix of the Darkness and the Light Aspects. However they have unique powers of their own, such as being able to replicate shadowed versions of objects.

While the Divine aspects can either be obtained hereditarily, they can be granted through certain rituals and with the permission of Arceus. The Precursor aspects, on the other hand can be learned through study and practice, with some exceptions.

Time, allowing those gifted with it to control the flow of time to a short extent.

Space, allowing those to warp space to their liking, such as having a pocket dimension inside a backpack or teleportation.

Matter, allowing chosen to create any non-living object they desire.

Gravity, also known as force, lets chosen manipulate the forces on an object, effectively creating telekinesis.

Fear, one of the precursor aspects that are granted through genes and rituals rather than practice. Grants the user control of a target's mind by playing on Fear, generally this is considered an Evil aspect and thus is rare.

Blight is an aspect granted only by exposure to another Blight Chosen or coming in contact with blighted objects. Blight allows the corruption of matter and mind. Organisms that are affected form a sort of hive mind, with the sole purpose of corrupting everything.

Purity is the antithesis to Blight, existing only to repel Blight. Can cure afflicted areas and entities.

Finally, The last aspect is Void. However, of all the Aspects that Arceus was able to recreate, the only one he couldn't synthesis was Void. Little is known about the Void aspect. However it is believed that Void was considered destruction incarnate, and was rare among the precursors.

Many of these Chosen exist today. However to those who don't know the myth, they don't exist at all. As there are about 100,000 Chosen today, that's few enough that it is hardly known. Regardless, those who receive Arceus' gift know their purpose and see it through with full intent.


	4. Chapter 2: Renegade

**Alright! Time to answer questions!**

**Well...first actual review is from a flamer, huh? I guess it's a start. Just glad this is actually getting attention, good or bad. **

**You did however pose a question I was hoping someone would ask, that question being 'Why did I give the Pokemon weapons?' There's both a personal and a Lore based reason for this. **

**One, Because it's 80's retrofuturism and no Sci-Fi series is complete without lasers and off-brand lightsabers.**

**Two, To Celatians, The Pokemon 'Battle Moves' are seen mostly as the equivalent of beating someone to death, save for special moves. To put it simply, when in a life of death scenario, a weapon's going to offer a better chance of survival and seem a lot less…'barbaric' to say. **

**Don't worry though, there's going to be a balanced mix of Battle Moves and weaponry. **

**That seems to be it aside from a lot of 'where's the next chapter?' ON TO THE STORY!**

* * *

"Whoa! Check it out Jay!" I hear a familiar, yet unrecognizable voice. I cut through the brush to find another Snivy, his coloring is a slightly darker green and his eyes are piercingly red, and yet he wears this look of amazement on his face, I don't know why, but I feel like I've known him my entire life. I trust him. I speak uncontrollably, like my vocal cords are moving on their own.

"You find something?" I ask the familiar stranger. He chuckles and points past the brush he's behind. My body disobeys my control and peers over his shoulder. I find what looks like an ancient temple, Pyramidal in shape. It's made of well clean granite, clearly this is being at least semi-maintained. "Callum...what did we just find?" my body on auto-pilot asks, I recognize the name. That Nidoqueen said that I had a brother named Callum. Looking at him now, I can see. I'm exploring with my brother, who I can see is a bit older than me. "I don't know...but I want to find out." He exclaims, before cutting through the brush. "Hey! Do you think this is a good Idea?!" I shout to him, but he's already climbing up the steps. I roll my eyes and continue. As I climb up the stairs I notice the inscriptions are Unown, and they're very, very red, like blood red. It unnerves me a little bit. I enter the room at the top, I see Callum staring at something. I look past him. There's a pillar in the center of the room, with a large gap in the middle of it. Inside the gap, is a floating, red, glowing crystal. It's shaped like the Z-Crystals of Alola, but I don't think they're supposed to glow...or float. "Jackson...do you know what this is…?" Callum asks

"No. What?" I ask in response, he shrugs. "Fuck if I know." he replies. Curious, I approach the floating crystal. I hold my hand out, but stop myself. I look back at Callum, he shrugs. I move my hand closer and closer to the crystal. I feel a sort of dread wash over me the closer my hand gets. I work up courage and tap the crystal. A wave of pure fear washes over me and I fall backward, screaming.

"What happened? What?" He shouts as he runs to my side. "I...I don't know...I'm not hurt, it...just made me suddenly afraid for my life." I explain. "You're alright though?" he asks. I nod. He looks at the gem, "hand me my water bottle." he orders. I obey, he dumps out the refillable plastic bottle and scoops up the crystal with it. I panic slightly. "Uh...I don't think that's a good Idea!" I shout. Callum ignores me and screws the top on, before rattling it around in the bottle, it doesn't affect him. "Hm. Well this might be dangerous, if it was this easy to get. People could figure out how to use it for the wrong reasons. We should keep it safe so nobody can abuse ...whatever this is." I feel like he makes a point, but I still have my doubts. He places the curious crystal in his bag.

Nevertheless, we start to make our way back to town from this place. The town in question Is Altera, the same town I'm currently heading to right now…

…_wait...am I dreaming?_

_..._

I suddenly open my eyes as a loud bang is heard.

"Ah! What?!" I exclaim in shock as I bolt upright in the bucket seat of the Kerzeo Neo. Cobalt looks over to me, "Sorry about that, I hit a pothole." He explains. I narrow my eyes, before taking a look around at the scenery.

We're in the middle of freaking nowhere, nothing but sand and rock in every direction, it's morning, Cobalt seems to have been driving all night. The area makes sense, as the South side of Celatia is a lot younger than the northern, as the super volcano that that made the northern half, Mount Aegis has been dead for thousands of years whereas the Southern side has had multiple super volcanos over the past few hundred years shaping the southern side. With the current super volcano being Mount Flynn on the Southeast, in the, you guessed it, Flynn Province, where Cobalt is from...wait, he never told me...how do I know that? I look to him, puzzled. He catches me staring. "What?" he asks.

"You grew up in Sunburst, Flynn. Right?" I ask. His eyes widen, "Hold on, are you starting to remember things?!" he asks. "Am I?" I ask him, unsure myself. "I never told you where I was from, I think you're remembering things!" He explains. I tilt my head, "So...we know each other then?" I ask. If I remember him, then he knew me before this happened. Cobalt looks to me in confusion, "...did I not make that clear?" he asks.

I narrow my eyes. "You didn't. You said you were suspicious of Mayrum and that's it." I bluntly reply. He looks over at me quizzically for a second. "...I'm not very bright under pressure, sorry, I'll tell you." he sighs.

"I moved to Aerocroft when I was 11. From Sunburst, as you've remembered. When I got there I knew nobody, you had moved just a few weeks before from Altera, you were 10. Since both of us knew nobody at school, we hung out with each other, and well, you became my best friend. Aerocroft is the site for the main Headquarters of Covelight. So whenever planes would take off from there you'd always look up at them and say how much you'd like to be one of them." He explains.

"One of them?" I ask. "A fighter pilot, like your father." Cobalt elaborates. When he says that, I do feel some kind of fire burning in my chest.

"I enlisted in Covelight a couple years ago, when I was 14 and got boosted to the elite rank. You took a trip back to your hometown of Altera when you were just starting the enlistment process, and a couple of days after you came back, you and your entire family suddenly vanished."

The scenery changes from desert to dense, tropical forest. Palm trees covering up the area. Split open by the occasional shopping center or gas station. "I went to your house and the entire place was ransacked. Every drawer was open, floorboards were torn up, furniture was smashed A plastic water bottle, the kind you fill up before going hiking was open in the floor of your room, with your backpack cut open. Someone was looking for something specific."

My eyes widen. "No way." I mutter to myself. "I think I know what they were looking for!" I shout. Cobalt turns to me, "Seriously? What is it?" he asks. "I just woke up from a dream, where my brother and I find a temple in the jungle. We found this weird crystal thing and my brother stored it in his plastic water bottle! I think that dream might have been a memory!" I exclaim.

Cobalt looks to me in slight surprise, "Whoever raided your house really wanted that crystal. What kind of crystal was it?" He picks at me, clearly trying to find out as much as he can. "I don't know, it floated, it was red and glowing. When I touched it, it made me afraid. But the fear went away the second I let go." I explain. Cobalt thinks for a bit, "I don't know, Jackson." he sighs.

We crest a hill and see the town of Altera. Except it's not a town, it's a full blown city surrounding a small bay. Tall buildings cover the skyline, with a large, green suspension bridge going across the bay from one side to the other. The Emerald bridge is it's name, I remember. It's made of steel, with copper plating covering it, oxidation has turned the copper green, like the Statue of Liberty in New York.

We enter the city not long later. We pass through the suburbs, and slowly I'm starting to get hit with a sense of nostalgia. I'm starting to recognise the buildings as we pass by them. Before finally I get a need to take control.

"Cobalt, take a right here." I order. Cobalt looks at me in confusion, "Why? The wharf is not for another 7 miles." He quickly interjects. I look at him, "I just got a feeling about something." I explain. He looks at me and shrugs, before turning right.

"Stop." I order. Cobalt obeys. I stare at the small house to our right. "What's up?" Cobalt asks curiously."

This place…

"This is where I grew up…" I think aloud. "huh…that right?" Cobalt asks. I nod. "No doubt about it...let's...keep moving back to the wharf." I decide. Cobalt pulls a U-turn and continues.

…

_Meanwhile._

"Well, it's finished sir. One of the first Genesect Sentinels in a long time to have it's own dedicated Artificial Intelligence, and the first to be equipped with red matter weapons." A scientist explains to Mayrum as they walk down an aisle in a huge factory. "What is its name?" He asks them. "Well the actual Genesect is BX-88C, the AI on the other hand is named Pluto as it's a beta version of the Saturn A.I. we're working on, named after the dwarf planet. It's disconnected from the network of the other drones. So it works entirely on it's own."

"Pluto…" he mutters to himself. "When will it be able to become active?" He asks the engineer. "Three days, we have to test it to make sure that the AI can perform all of its functions and make sure the weapons are stable, you know how red matter can be. One little malfunction and suddenly your rifle becomes a miniature black hole." He explains. Mayrum nods, "You're sure this can track down our fugitive? Right?" Mayrum ponders. The Engineer nods, "Yes, it has full access to all of our surveillance systems and has advanced scanning optics that allow it to analyse anybody they see and get the info on them. Identity, address, hell even what kind of food they like."

Mayrum smiles, suddenly another engineer, a Rotom, zips over to the first engineer and whispers in his ear. The Engineer perks up and turns back to Mayrum as the Rotom zips away. "Good news Mayrum, it turns out that you're just in time to witness the first test and it's first bootup sequence." He explains. "Excellent, I'm eager to see it in action." Mayrum rejoices

...

_Back to our protagonist._

It's a nice day out. The weather of Celatia, as it's in a tropical climate, is either warm and humid with clear skies, or it's caught in a hurricane, really no in-between. Upside to that is that us Celatians are well adapted to hurricanes. Storm surge protectors surround every city, ready to deploy at a moments notice, all buildings are anchored deep underground and have a storm setting which covers the whole building in a giant storm shutter, essentially. Power lines are buried underground. Given our geography, hurricanes are very common here. We get around 4 big storms a year. Most of our procedures is just to hunker down, run errands when in the eye. Then put on a movie and wait out the storm, then back to business as usual.

I stand over the railing of a large ferry. The Car is parked on the lower deck. Sea spray blows against my face. "I could go for a drink, what about you?" He asks. I nod. Now that I think of it, I haven't eaten or drank anything since I first woke up last night. Though, as a grass type, sunlight is an acceptable snack to hold me over for when I actually do eat. My throat feels pretty dry though.

"I'll take some oran juice if they have it." I explain. The green eyed Greninja then nods and wanders off. I look back towards the coastline. We aren't very far from shore, as we're only going up the Veil river. Which is really wide. 13.4 miles wide to be exact.

The only reason it's a river is because it starts at the 2nd highest peak in Celatia, Mt. Nycto in the Xodon Province. Where the water From Lake Celeste then flows down to the sea, dividing the continent in two. Where Lake Celeste is fed from, who knows? Probably millions of years of snow-melt and hurricanes. Mt. Nycto and Mt. Aegis are the only places in Celatia where you can find snow, as they're high enough to not be affected by the tropical climate of Celatia. I might've been there, but I don't know. Sometimes it snows on cometlight, which for you foreigners is called 'Christmas.' Only we here celebrate the Comet Nupria lighting up our skies and granting our wishes...supposedly. I don't know if that's really true.

"Excuse me miss, we're looking for someone, hope you can provide us with some information."

That sentence causes me to dart my head. A Pawniard and a Monferno wearing armor with the Covelight emblem on the shoulders are questioning a Lilligant.

My fight or flight instinct kicks in. The Lilligant points in my direction, then looks at me with a confused face. The two officers gaze in my direction. I start to panic, and yet, something tells me to stay absolutely still. The two officers then thank the Lilligant and move toward me. I can't move, or rather, I can't bring myself to move. "Split up, he's somewhere on this boat." I hear the Pawniard say to his partner. They head opposite directions, both away from me.

...What?

I was right there, why didn't they notice me? I wonder for a minute, still motionless. I look down at myself. I can see myself fine, however it looks like I have a mirage covering me. My curiosity is confirmed when Cobalt returns with two glasses in his hands.

"J-Jackson? JACKSON?!" He shouts in a panic, starting to scan the passengers, even though I'm right in front of him.

"What Cobalt?" I ask. He turns back to me, "Wait, Jackson are you standing where you were earlier?" He asks. "Y-yeah, a couple of soldiers even scanned the ship and walked right by me!" I exclaim. Cobalt then suddenly leans left and right over and over again. "Whoa...you're like, bending the light around you. I can barely see just a shimmering outline of you." He explains. I look at myself, I can still see myself perfectly. "Huh, weird. It might have been some kind of fight or flight response from seeing the officers." I ponder.

"Well you're gradually becoming more visible. Take your drink." He states, I take the beverage and quickly gulp it down. I sigh.

Damn, I needed that.

…

_Meanwhile._

Mayrum stands before the mechanical warrior in the capsule. They've moved onto a runway, with various targets set up. The Genesect is silver in color, with a black head crest, yellow claws and feet. Black arms with Silver forearms, an yellow stripe going across its abdomen.

Instead of the teeth that Genesect normally have, the space in-between its eyes is occupied by small air intakes, rectangular in shape. About an 3 inches in height with 5 inches in width. The eyes look like unpowered car headlights with optics in the middle which is normal for all Genesect when deactivated.

"Okay, transferring A.I. to the vessel...done...bootup initiated." One of the engineers states as he operates a control panel.

A low whirr is heard. Before the robot suddenly springs to life, it's eyes now lit in an dim yellow glow, enough to fully illuminate the eyes and surrounding area of the face. Various routines are performed before a beep suddenly signals the full activation. The capsule opens and the Genesect steps out. Taking a look at itself, then it's surroundings. Mayrum watches on as an Ampharos approaches the machine. "Hello, you are serial number BX-88C, a prototype Genesect Sentinel. You're the first of your kind to have a mind of your own, as we've embedded an experimental Artificial Intelligence. Thus, you shall be given the designation 'PLUTO.'

Pluto makes a short beep, signifying that the data was processed. "You're tasked with hunting down a wanted individual. We want to make sure you're ready for the mission. Do you see those 4 targets over there?" He asks, pointing to a group of targets.

The machine turns its head in the direction. "Let's test out your repeaters, shall we?" The Ampharos inquire. Pluto's eyes flash brightly. Before leaping in front of the targets. It's arm splits apart, stopping halfway up the forearm. Allowing for a small gun barrel to poke through in between the two segments. Red light fills a few glass areas going up the barrels. The machine thrusts it's arms forward. Before beams of plasma are shot out of the muzzles of each arm. The energy is black in the center with red on the outside. The energy impacts two targets. The energy travels across the targets, quickly disintegrating the area that was passed over, before the energy fades, leaving the targets atomised. Pluto does the same to the next two, before it's arms vent out the generated heat and close back up again.

"So, this is what Red Matter is capable of?" Mayrum asks. The Ampharos turns to him. "Yes, Red Matter has been used as explosives because of unstableness, leading to it's tendency to collapse into singularities. However, after MUCH testing, we've been able to stabilise it. Turning it into more of an Antimatter blaster. Come back Pluto."

The Android returns to the group. "I'm impressed. I look forward to seeing more of what this machine is capable of." The Ampharos nods "Thank you, sir."

…

Someone stares at the group from afar, The Snivy known as Violet. She stands out on the upper floor of a hangar staring at the scene unfolding, thinking to herself.

"Mayrum has never cared so much about hunting someone down. He's going so far as to develop a prototype drone just to hunt down ONE person? Something doesn't seem right here. There's definitely something else going on here. Then again, I don't really care. Maybe he'll let me cut loose for once. All those months in the box, and I never get to use what I trained for? It's disappointing."

She stops twirling her knife and closes it up, before dropping it, it disappears into code and flies into her wristband. She swipes her off hand in front of the underside of the steel wristband. Causing a holographic screen. She taps a few pages, before coming to a database. She types in the name "Jackson Chaser" and the following page appears on her screen.

_Jackson Chaser_

_Snivy, Male_

_**WANTED: SUSPECTED TERRORIST**_

_15 years old_

_Hometown: Altera, Urami._

_Current Residence: 556 November Avenue. Aerocroft, Urami_

_Currently a recruit in the Covelight Air Force_

_Missing._

"Jackson Chaser…" She thinks to herself. "If I can capture him, maybe Mayrum will finally see that I can be of use to him more than just an adopted daughter…"

She waves the hologram away, before a sinister smirk appears on her face.

As she walks away...

_**UP NEXT: CHAPTER 3, PURSUIT.**_

* * *

_**DATA ENTIRES: (Small Lore snippets that will be placed at the end of chapters to cover things that aren't explained in the story)**_

_AEROCROFT _

Aerocroft is a city similar to New York City, well known for its high rise buildings and its close proximity to the Main Headquarters for the Covelight Military. The tallest and most well known building is called Aerocroft's Firelight, as it's the brightest lit building in the city and it used to have a large gas fire on top, but it was shut down to protect the environment. Aerocroft is known for its population diversity, technological advancements and nonstop commotion.

_ALTERA_

A coastal port city heavily inspired by San Francisco and Oakland. The Covelight used to dock their naval vessels here and there are a couple still around for sightseeing tours. Altera is known for having AMAZING seafood, street vendors, overall a very lively place.

Notable areas:

Dodge wharf: Basically where most of the city takes place. Right on the piers, features shops, restaurants, museums, and even an aquarium!

Pier 88: The pier used for the CLS Kelvin battleship that's also become a shopping Mall. Filled with restaurants and stores.

Emerald bridge: A huge copper plated suspension bridge that has now become green with oxidation, don't worry, it's completely stable, as there's tough steel underneath the copper.

Altera Zen Garden: A good place to relax.

Fort Knockwood: An old military naval fortress that has now become a museum.

_THE PDA_

The Smartphone of the future! The PDA is a holographic mobile interface that is either a small metal wristband, ankle bracelet or a projector embedded just under the skin. The interface hovers just in front of the user, no more than 5 feet depending on the size of the user. It is controlled by touch, by gesture, or by a neural link. That's why Pokemon with or without arms can use it. It has all of the same features as the smartphones of the early 21st century. Allowing seamless communication between individuals, connection to the internet, video streaming, as well as complete access to the famous CYBERLOCK. A digital storage service that allows users to digitise objects and store them in the cloud. Allowing for easy transport, huge storage. The only limitation is that CYBERLOCK can only hold objects up to 100 pounds. So large stuff like furniture or vehicles can't be stored. Larger Pokemon, however, don't have a problem with this. As to them, they feel like having to not manually carry things makes them feel weak. The PDA is an incredible piece of modern technology and it's only getting better.

_RED MATTER_

Originally developed as a fuel source for spacecraft, quickly became used as a replacement for nuclear weapons, as they create small black holes that live for 2 minutes, before dissipating harmlessly. I mean, Covelight can still wipe out entire cities, but they care about the health of the planet...and red matter is cleaner for the environment, why they care? Nobody really knows.

_GENESECT_

Genesect were Pokemon that existed thousands of years ago. Celatia saw that Team Plasma had managed to resurrect the long extinct Pokemon and copied the designs, only instead of resurrecting the dead. They took the designs and turned them into a large scale mechanised workforce. Serving in many situations too dangerous for Pokemon, such as construction, mining, and of course, military and law enforcement. Genesect are all connected to a network, allowing them to quickly communicate with each other, forming a sort of hive mind. There are three classes of combat Genesect. Scouts small and nimble units, Sentinels, the units that most people associate the word 'Genesect' with, and Centurions, which are walking tanks on four legs.

KERZEO NEO

Pronounced "KER-ZAY-OH NEE-OH" The Neo is a medium end electric sports car by Zaresian Automaker Kerzeo. Bearing a resemblance to the Lamborghini Countach, the styling of this car is retro-inspired, and yet still very modern. The car boasts a moderate 672 Brake Horsepower, with a top speed of 203 Miles per hour. The car also features electromagnetic suspension, allowing for a comfortable ride no matter the condition, and features industry standard hover technology for offroad use.

* * *

**Sorry for the long wait on Chapter 2, everyone. I recently got a job at a coffee shop, and I started off with the evening shift, so I didn't have enough time to write. However, I've recently transferred to the morning shift, so now I have more free time to write. Also, I turned 18 on friday! So that happened. Expect Chapter 3 to come a lot sooner. I'm going to say mid november. Don't worry, there will be some actual action in chapter 3, so now you get to see Jackson put his powers to good use! I know it may seem slow now, but that will change! I guarantee it.**

**Also, thank you TOOL for coming out with Fear Inoculum and giving me my background music for working on this chapter. You have no Idea how many times I stopped to headbang to the riff of 'Pneuma.'**

**As always, if you have any lore related questions, feel free to post them in the reviews and I will answer them in later chapters.**

**This is Elysium. Over and out!**


	5. Chapter 3: Pursuit

No Reviews since the last chapter, so no questions to answer.

That's alright though, It gives me more room to make this (shameless plug-in) announcement!

I'm proud to announce that Covelight now has an official Deviantart Page!

Check out the Page 'RF-Official' on Deviantart to view official art for the characters, a Full-res version of the cover art, a detailed map of Celatia, previews of the next chapter, 'lore cards' and more! (Yes...this is what I do when I'm not writing...)

This page will be updated after every chapter.

With that out of the way let's get into it.

With Covelight hot on our tail, the long open stretches of highway in Urami Valley definitely gave us time to put the hammer down and gain some distance. With a top speed of 203 miles per hour, we should make it from Cxelmedia (Pronounced zzel-meh-dee-uh), which is where the ferry stopped, to Camaro in just under 3 hours.

Something has been bothering me for a while, and it's not my amnesia for once. I'm a bit worried since I've hardly seen any Covelight since I woke up yesterday. Mayrum, the single car, and the two officers on the boat. Cobalt seems a little on edge too.

It's just been too quiet...and that's very unsettling given how big of a target I have painted on my back. Though, in a way, I guess we shouldn't complain. If we can make it to the cabin without any problems then it's smooth sailing from there.

Cobalt has been telling me even more about my past, and more about what he knows about the Chosen. Apparently I have a huge arsenal of abilities tied with my gift. That there's apparently up to 20 or so things I can do with it. I've started to call my ball of light that I can shoot at people a Flash Pulse, and my cloaking ability I've started calling Refraction.

As for my past Apparently I went missing in February, 2207, right now it's October 18, 2207. Cobalt tells me that apparently my Birthday is in November. The 23rd I believe. Not that this information helps our current predicament.

I also have a couple of other friends besides Cobalt, Jasmine Airheart, a Latias who I met whilst training for the Covelight Air Force and developed a sort of friendly rivalry with, and Sylvia Pixy. Who is apparently an Eevee evolution that's so new, she actually had the evolution NAMED AFTER her. She's what's known as a Sylveon. Apparently she happens to also be the only recorded Shiny Sylveon too. Sylveon are starting to become more common since the first one recorded appearance in Kalos 6 years ago, why they suddenly started appearing NOW, nobody knows. Anyway, apparently Sylvia is studying Medicine to become a Covelight field medic. Apparently I got in a small accident involving a Gyrocoptor and a light post and she was the one who treated me. Then we hit it off. At least that's what Cobalt tells me.

"I gotta pull off for fuel." Cobalt explains as he pulls a U-turn on the highway to enter a gas station. "Go inside and see if they have any Allegory. This won't take long." Cobalt orders whilst handing me some units. I nod and exit the vehicle. Cobalt walks over to the station to purchase a fuel cell. I enter the building and find a few decently sized bottles of Allegory. A popular, Celatian beverage. I take them out of the refrigerator and place them on the counter. The clerk, an incredibly bored looking Yanmega on his PDA, notices my items and taps a few things on the register. "38 Units" he sighs. I hand him the 50 Cobalt gave me. The Yanmega gives me back 12. I can feel his hundred eyes staring at me as I take the change and the drinks.

"Thank you." he mutters as he returns to his PDA

I walk out of the store to find Cobalt placing his spent fuel cell in the recycler, before closing the cap on the port. He notices me, "Ah, those will do." He observes. "Alright, what do we need these for? Some kind of countermeasure if we end up being chased?" Cobalt scoffs, "Don't be fuckin' ridiculous mate, I just have a craving for one right now."

I roll my eyes and get in the car. Back into the bucket seat that I don't fit in. We pull out of the Gas station and continue.

The clerk watches as we pull away. He pulls up a number pad on his PDA, staring at the wanted sign just above him on the top shelf.

"This is the Covelight Police, what is your emergency?" A voice speaks through the holographic tablet. The Yanmega replies with an accent similar to a New York accent, "Yeah, I got a tip for you fellas about that Jackson Chasa punk."

Shuffling is immediately heard on the other side. "This is Sergeant McCray! You have a tip about Chaser?"

"That's what I said."

"Hans, get the Notepad!" McCray shouts "Go on."

"Yeah about 40 seconds ago he came into my store and bought a couple bottles of Allegory. He was riding with a Greninja in a Covelight Uniform. He was driving a red Kerzeo Neo. I'm on H-7, they went North toward Camaro."

"Understood, thank you for the tip. Can you describe the Greninja?"

"Er yeah, He had a darker coloring than your average fella, and lime green eyes. I couldn't make out the name on his vest. Spoke with a Southeastern accent."

"Thank you for the information, have a great day and you will be rewarded if we catch him. We're sending speed enforcement units to catch up to the suspect."

5 minutes later group of cars zoom past the gas station at an insane speed with sirens blaring.

(A/N: Finally! Some action!)

"I'm not gonna say that I'm okay with the fact that we haven't seen a whole lot of Covelight. But I don't dislike it either." Cobalt remarks as he takes a sip of his beverage. I shrug, "I find it kinda weird, you'd think that since I'm a high-value target we'd never get a break, right?" I take a sip of my own drink. It's a carbonated fruit drink consisting of Apple, Oran, and Sitrus berries. I forgot how crisp and refreshing it tasted. I can see why Cobalt wanted some. We pass a sign: "Camaro 15"

We have only 15 miles to Camaro, I smile. Cobalt quickly sees a flash in the mirror before we're slammed from behind. Lights and sirens quickly fill our senses. "OF COURSE I HAD TO OPEN MY MOUTH!" Cobalt shouts. "The hell was that?!" I shout, recovering from the whiplash. "Speed enforcement! These guys don't mess about! Their cars are weaponised to take down illegal street racers! I lean out the window and look back. It's a group of 3 incredibly high-end supercars...Vertico Divides to be specific. Their Light bars ablaze as they follow closely behind us in a delta formation.

"This is Kilo-4 I have eyes on the suspect. Code 3 pursuit." I hear from Cobalt's radio. "I count three Verticos!" I exclaim. Cobalt growls, "Fucking perfect! Try and Knock them out with your flash pulse before they can really do so-"

Suddenly one of them slams into the right side of our car, the pursuit car crackling with electricity as it does so. Said electricity creates a burst of energy as it hits us like a static shock on steroids. "Ah!" Cobalt exclaim as he just barely maintains control.

"I hit them with the Shock Ram. They're still moving." I hear over the radio. I raise my arm.

"Come on...come on…" I mutter to myself. Focusing my energy into the palm of my hand. I can see the ball of white light appear, but I focus even harder to the point where it's the size of a basketball. I start panting heavily, It's taking a lot of energy to form a flash this big.

I finally release. The flash pulse hits the right car at the speed of light. Not shutting it down like earlier, in fact quite the opposite. The impact explodes, causing the other two cars to slightly lose control and the one I hit to be hurtled 20 feet into the air, before rolling for 5 seconds until it's on its roof. "Alright! That was fucking cool!" I hear Cobalt shout.

"Suspect has taken down one of our vehicles! Officer down!" I hear one of the cops shout through the radio.

But it's not over yet, I still have the other two to deal with. I notice one pull behind the other. The other one doesn't make a move. I line up my hand again to take another shot, but Cobalt suddenly starts uncontrollably swerving, before finally spinning out. "SHIT!" I hear him shout. The cop from behind suddenly pulls in front and charges with another shock ram primed. Cobalt can't control his car and is forced to take the hit. "AGH!" I shout as the force knocks me back inside the cabin. Fortunately the hit knocks him straight again. "What the hell was that!" I hiss at Cobalt. "EMP loaded on the leader. It shuts off your traction control and sabotages your power steering to make you spin out, so that the follower cars can hit them with the shock ram!"

"Doesn't this seem a bit excessive for cars built to stop street racing?" I ask.

"Tell me about it! Now take them out before we end up like the one you just took down!" Cobalt orders. I nod and lean back out. Suddenly I notice the lead car drive alongside us as if he's trying to pass us. "Oh no you don't!" I shout and charge up another large flash pulse. I fire it and the Car is launched into an oncoming tree, absolutely totalling it. A strip of spikes flies out from underneath the car

The final car has to swerve around the debris but catches one of its tires on the spike strip. Before speeding up and suddenly running alongside us from my side however with only three tires, it's a lot slower than normal. I charge up yet another flash pulse. But it slams us and in recoil I close my hand over the flash pulse. Rather than dissipate, the Flash Pulse flows out of the top and bottom of my fist, before wrapping around my knuckles and protuding outwards and ending in a point. "Wait, what's that!?" I shout as I notice my new ability. The car rams us again and my hand is knocked downward so that the protruding end scrapes the roof of the cop's car. After opening my eyes I notice the light bar has been sliced off and is now tumbling down the road behind us. I look to my hand. "It's...a blade!" I exclaim in awe. The cop is now pressing us further and further off the road in a last-ditch effort. I look back to Cobalt. "Cobalt!" I call. He glances to me "What?!" He screams as he tries to push the car back. "I need you to slam on the brakes!" I explain. "But then he'll be in front of us and be able to hit us with a spike strip!" He retorts. "JUST DO IT!" I scream as I lunge my blade of light into the side of the car. Cobalt slams on the brakes and my blade glides through the metal like a hot knife through butter, only that the more cutting that happens, the more energy I spend keeping the blade hot. I slice right through the engine, which is in the back rather than the front. The cop's car loses all power and drives into the ditch, the momentum ramping it into a palm tree. Cobalt swerves to dodge the falling vehicle. Before speeding off at full speed.

Both Cobalt and I suddenly breathe a sigh of relief. "Thank devines that's over with." I sigh, slumping back into the seat. Cobalt nods. As I sit down. I feel incredibly exhausted. "Jackson?" Cobalt asks worriedly. "I must've...used up all my energy...with that blade…" I reply. Cobalt tilts his head, "Blade?" he asks. I slowly make a flash pulse in my hand and crush it again, forming the blade. "I discovered it by accident when he sideswiped us." I explain. Before black dots start appearing in my vision. "Hey, J-Jackson...don't use up all your-..."

My vision fades to black as I pass out.

"Mayrum sir, we've found him." An officer reports to the Quilava behind the desk. "Has he been apprehended?" He asks. The officer shakes his head, "No sir. We got a tip that they were on Highway 7 heading towards Camaro. We sent a speed enforcement squad after them but they were all dispatched. All of the officers survived and said that Chaser was leaning out of the car and attacking whilst someone else drove. Said he attacked using moves that we've never seen before. Like the moves were made entirely of light."

Mayrum pauses. "Hmm...that sounds like what he hit me with. Do we have any ID on the driver?" he asks. "According to the description the witness who called gave us, Elite Private Cobalt Ducati. The recon for the first capture mission. They're in a red Kerzeo Neo." He explains. Mayrum slams his fist on the desk, "Ducati? Damnit! I thought that maybe Chaser killed him, but instead they're working together? This just got more complicated."

"Uhm...another thing...sir?"

"WHAT?"

"...Your adopted Daughter Violet has gone missing, along with one of our Corviknight-class hoverbikes...last seen heading to Altera."

"...It's just one thing after another...I'll head to Altera and deal with this myself. In the meantime, report this to the R/D division so we know where to send BX-88c."

"Y-yes sir."

"Dismissed."

"Next ferry departs in 30 minutes! Everyone aboard."

Violet wheels her stolen bike onto the platform, a small smile on her face. She heard over the scanners that they were heading to Camaro, now that she knows a direction, she couldn't be happier. She can't wait! Finally she'll be able to get the recognition from her adoptive father that she craves. She gets to experience the rush of ending someone's life yet again.

"Would you like something to drink miss?" The tender asks. Violet looks at them with her deep blue eyes and smiles, Coffee please, black as the night."

The tender nods and leaves.

She's gonna enjoy this...

UP NEXT: LORE 3: CELATIAN LIFESTYLE (Thanksgiving, assuming I don't forget.)

AFTER THAT: CHAPTER 4, ESTABLISHMENT. (Before Christmas)

Happy Early Thanksgiving everyone! Currently finishing writing this on the 11th of November 2019...at . I don't have work tomorrow so I can be a night owl tonight which is great since I don't think I would have been able to finish this chapter otherwise.

Again, if you missed the beginning segment. WE HAVE A DEVIANTART PAGE!

While there isn't a whole lot right now, you can check out official artwork for COVELIGHT: A POKEMON AU at RF-Official on Deviantart. It's updated regularly so check in often (and there are even secret messages in some works) And yes, I do the artwork myself.

Oh and when the story is done, the official soundtrack for this story will be released! (Spoiler: It's a lot of synthwave and cyberpunk music.)

With all of that out of the way, I know compared to the last chapter this one's kinda short, but I had fun writing this. I will see you all later!

Elysium Over and Out!


	6. Chapter 4: Establishment

_**Oh-ho-ho boy, a cease and desist letter from Nintendo appeared in my reviews and I'm just...just speechless.**_

_**I will applaud the vocabulary, it would be convincing if this story was popular, which it isn't, and it's not like there are thousands of other fanfics here which are completely fine. **_

_**I like that you're a fan though, I apologize for my terrible time management, ADHD is kind of a bitch.**_

…_**.yeah, I'm aware I suck at deadlines. This should be obvious by now. I just don't see the need to fake a letter from Nintendo, when "Hey buddy, there should be a chapter out by now" works just fine. (They wouldn't like my idea of a Robber Force game anyways, ha ha!)**_

_**If you must know why I'm a bit slow on this stuff, it's because I've been working on other areas of the story at the same time, such as Art and Videos for the series. That and I pulled a stupid move and didn't prewrite the story before starting like I normally do. **_

_**Lore 3 though...I need a bit more time to work on that, I've never had to really describe an entire country before and Ideas are a bit short. It will come, don't worry.**_

_**Anyways...**_

* * *

_Chapter 4: Establishment_

* * *

"Oh dear. This is bad news…"

"Do you know what's affecting him?"

"Yes...unfortunately you're not going to like it."

"Cut to the chase, can you fix him?"

"I can...however..."

"Know that your son will not be the same Jackson you remember."

I see what looks to be a figure standing over me, looking down at me.

"Athazagoraphobia is not to be taken lightly, especially given that he's also been afflicted with Thanatophobia as well…"

"...what does that mean?"

"He's trapped in some sort of waking death, his memories are gone and his nerves are severed so he can't act or think. If we give him his own power, it will drive out the…"

I hear the voices fade out once I'm able to slightly make out the figure.

...is that...an Azelf?

…

I begin to stir from my sleep, the Bucket seat of the Kerzeo seems a lot more comfortable than I remember. So comfortable that I don't hear the rumble of the engine.

I hear something else.

...fire?

I finally open my eyes. My scenery has changed. I now find myself lying on a couch in front of a lit fireplace. Confused, I take a look around.

The interior of the sports car has changed to that of a moderately sized house. I remember Cobalt saying that we were a good distance away from Camaro...so I don't know if we're at the cabin Cobalt spoke of.

Or at least I didn't until loud snoring filled my ears.

I quickly dart my gaze toward the sound. It's coming from a loft upstairs. Before investigating, I get my own bearings a bit better. Left to the fireplace is a large window that protrudes outwards, making a sort of cut-out in the shape of a corner. It looks like the sun is either just setting or just rising. Behind me is a kitchen. Equipped with everything a kitchen should realistically have. A stove, a refrigerator, dishwasher, blast oven. Nothing out of the ordinary. To the right is the loft, with a staircase going up to it, starting from the same wall as the fireplace, going up a few steps, before turning up to the right going up along the wall once it reaches the corner. Below the loft appear to be stairs going downward into a lower floor.

I hear the snoring again. Okay, I got to find what that freaking noise is coming from!

I get off the couch and sneak up the stairs.

What I find...doesn't necessarily surprise me.

I get up there, there's three twin-size beds, two in the back, to the left from the large window, and one to the right of the stairs. Right from the window.

Cobalt is passed out in the one closest to me. I can't say I blame him, he's been driving for two days now. Not to mention what happened earlier with the cops. He's probably exhausted. I sigh and decide to leave him alone for now, he needs the rest.

With nothing better to do, I explore the rest of the house.

Next to the stars to the loft is a door leading to a bathroom and a bedroom. The bed is quite large, which leads me to believe that this is where his parents stay when they're up here. Before I make my way downstairs, I make myself a cup of coffee. It took me a little bit to figure out how to work the machine but I figured it out. A little cream, two sugars. One small sip for taste.

"Ah~...nice..." I sigh comfortably. I've needed this.

I make my way downstairs. The stairs are the same as going up to the loft, just going down instead of up. There's a main room down here, with a bar to the left and what I assume to be a home theater system taking up most of the room. Near the stairs, again similar to the loft, is a door to a bedroom, There's a bathroom in a separate door inside the bedroom. The bed is a bit smaller than upstairs, this might be Cobalt's room or maybe just a guest room. Across the main room is a hallway leading to another Bathroom and Bedroom.

Nothing else to do, I flop down on the couch downstairs and turn on the TV. Physical screen TV's are a bit vintage these days, but at least it's a 16k. The first thing that pops up is a news station reporting on things offworld.

"-has been elected to bring his unconventional brand of Law enforcement to Nocturnia 34B- Atyria. Chaos has escalated as The Atyrian Empire's followers and The NRAF have now taken their differences to the streets. The Anti-Nocturnian propaganda has escalated to violence in deltar, resulting in the deaths of over-"

I change the channel, it's offworld, so it doesn't concern me. This time it's on a classic movie, 'When walls fall.'

"This time...make sure they're all dead before you leave."

Good movie, but not what I'm looking for. I change the channel again, finally on Celatian news.

"-and we can expect to see them entering our atmosphere and lighting up the skies later this year. In other news, there's a reported terrorist out on the loose in the Urami Province. The Suspect has been identified as Jackson Alexander Chaser, a 15 year old Snivy. Last seen heading to Camaro. If you have any information regarding the suspect, contact Covelight. This suspect is armed and incredibly dangerous. Covelight is working hard on tracking down the suspect and should have him apprehended soon."

I sigh, "damn it. Now the entire country is looking for me."

I don't know what to do...I don't know what I _can_ do. Clearly I'm being framed for something I didn't do, but who's framing me, and why? Why do I suddenly have strange powers? Nothing makes sense to me.

The sun was rising, it seems. The light coming through the windows is a lot brighter now. Still tinted a bit orange though. I turn the TV off and head upstairs. Once again sitting by the fire, staring out the window. We're atop a hill overlooking an expansive valley. Trees cover the landscape. In the yard is a large flagpole with the Celatian flag.

Time passes.

Cobalt finally comes downstairs, groggily awake. "Oh good, you're awake." He says to me. I nod, "Happy to see we made it in one piece. I've made some coffee if you want some." I offer. He nods, "Cheers." he concludes. Pouring some for himself. "Eggs and toast?" he offers. I shoot him a thumbs up.

I know people are going to ask this so I'll just get it out of the way. If we're eating eggs, are we Celatians cannibals?

The short answer...It...really depends.

When it comes to eggs, the ones for eating (usually) aren't grown in a womb and laid by a mother with a living embryo inside of them. Rather, they are genetically engineered and grown, almost like they're plants. They simulate eggs, but they aren't what was once a living creature. Meat on the other hand is a different story. When it comes to meat, most prefer to eat synthetic meat rather than actual meat hacked off of a carcass. However, some exceptionally carnivorous pokemon will only eat straight up meat, usually from Beta Pokemon, as, well, Betas are everywhere and generally lack high cognitive function like their Celatian relatives, more like animals than Celatians.

The morality of this is…debatable, obviously, protests for both sides have gone on for centuries. Neither side giving in. Debate will probably never end. Most, like me, are indifferent. Real and synthetic have the same amount of nutrition and taste mostly the same (Synthetic is a small bit drier.) So, there's not really a point to arguing. I'm sure I've had both at some point.

This is a touchy subject and I don't like to be political, but I know some people are curious.

...I'm getting off topic.

Breakfast happens and Cobalt begins work on setting up his...ahem, 'intelligence center' as he calls it.

I decide to step outside onto the deck, we're perched in a clearing on the side of a tall hill. With a break in the trees allowing us to see the view. Mountains and valleys as far as the eye can see, however, I can see just before the horizon, the skyline of the Chicago-esque city of Camaro, Urami. I stretch my legs a bit, it feels great to be out of the car for a change. Speaking of which, I turn around to see the Neo parked in the garage, the paint on the entire right side of the car has been scraped off, and the bumper surprisingly hasn't come off judging by how dented it is, I notice one of the tail lights has been absolutely shattered and the spoiler is slightly bent. I turn back around. I can make out dark clouds creeping over the edge of the earth. Looks like a storm's heading our way. That's good, the Drones aren't waterproof (Most of them, anyway.) So we're unlikely to have Genesect patrolling the area. I have nothing to do. So I stand there for a while until I finally get an idea.

This is a perfect time to hone my powers!

I head down and into the woods, not before letting Cobalt know, of course. He told me to grab some more firewood while I'm at it.

...damn, it's pretty cold up here, actually. I can see why we need the wood.

Speaking of which…

I find myself in a grove of dead/dying oak trees. Perfect punching bags. Maybe if I go at it long enough, I'll be able to add another ability under my wing. I guess I won't know until I try.

I start by trying out the Flash Pulse rather than the blade. I realise that up until now, I haven't actually gotten a good look at my Flash. It's a simple ball of golden, warm light, however, there's an aura of blueish white orbiting it, almost like an atomic structure. I suddenly realise that I can change the amount of energy I pour into it, thereby changing the size and I assume the blast radius. I test my theory. I fire a small flash into one of the oaks, it creates a small burst of light, knocking the bark off and causing the tree to bend in recoil. I then pour more energy into the pulse and fire again. The ensuing blast causes the bottom of the tree to explode into sawdust and splinters. The top half of the tree quickly fills up the area I had just carved away, before tipping over and starting to fall.

...right on top of me.

"OH SHI-!" I shout before I try to use my blade ability to slice the tree, however, I flinch and open my palm whilst I still have the blade up, using my arms in a fruitless effort to brace for impact. The energy shoots forward, before expanding outwards. I find myself now covered in a small dome of light. The tree hits the dome and bounces off. I feel a bit of my energy immediately disperse the second it impacts, but I don't fall over, to my surprise. Confused as to why I'm not dead, I open my eyes to see the barrier of light that I had just accidentally created.

"...whoa." is the only thing that exits my vocal cords. I wave the dome around, it moves just as well as the blade, it feels weightless. I close my hand again, the energy curls around my knuckles once more and takes on the familiar blade. I open my hand again, domed barrier.

So if I crush a Flash Pulse I get a sword and a shield? That's interesting. I notice I can use my abilities in both hands at once, so I actually _did_ use a sword and shield to cut down the rest of that grove.

These abilities take a lot of energy...I feel really drained after that.

I wish I could just recharge...hang on…

If I can expel Light...can I also absorb Light too? I hold my hand out and try concentrating.

...no, now I'm invisible. I don't need that right now...but at least I know how to do it on command instead of just doing it by accident like on the boat.

Come on…

Before long, I curl my fingers inwards, without making a fist, and I can see a small funnel, ribbons of light pouring into the glowing triangle on my hand. I can feel my strength returning, but really slowly. Focusing too hard, however has led me to stop, so I can catch my breath.

I think I might need to practice that a little more later. I need to keep gathering wood, so I chop up the trees I cut down. I found out that by lessening the energy input on the blade, I can cut cleanly without losing too much energy in the process, however it's not nearly as sharp, as now it seems to work like an actual blade instead of a plasma cutter that glides through everything like it's air. Considering I'm being framed, I'd rather not kill anyone, lest I only add to my bounty. So being able to control the lethality of my arsenal will probably come in handy if I have to fight. For now though, I gather up the wood and haul it back to the house load by load.

After my chore is done I collapse on the couch and forcefully exhale. "Whoo…" I take a minute to catch my breath. It's green wood, so it's a bit heavy (For you city folks, green wood just means it has a lot of moisture in it.)

I down a glass of water and check in with Cobalt. Heading downstairs I hear Cobalt hard at work in the guest room.

"Damnit, just get in there, you COCK!" He curses. I snort in amusement, he's behind what looks to be a large desk. "You alright there Cobalt?" I ask playfully. "Yeah...I just can't get this damn cable into this port!" he grumples. "I have small hands, I'm sure I can help you with that." I offer.

"...are you turning this into an innuendo?"

"What? No!"

"...nevermind, I could use you for this, come here."

I help him plug in said cable into said port. "Alright, that should do it." he explains. I move out from behind the desk. He flicks a few switches, before a massive screen appears on the wall. Various images flash on screen. "A-Ha! Bingo! We have just gained access to the CSS!" He exclaims proudly. "The CSS?" I ask.

"The Covelight Surveillance System! This means we can spy on Covelight and see what they're planning." He explains. "Huh, interesting." I remark.

"So...what are we going to do now?" I ask.

…

"What's the status on Pluto?" Mayrum asks one of the many engineers working on the BX-88C Project, a Porygon Z. "It's ready, sir. We're just making the final preparations then we'll deploy it in Camaro." The Porygon Z explains. Mayrum nods, "Excellent...you did swap out the ammunition like I told you to, right?" He asks. The Engineer nods, "We did...I'm still confused as to why you've changed your mind and decided to load Stun rounds instead of actual rounds, I thought we wanted him dead, sir."

"...Plan's changed. Just get it ready." Mayrum dodges. The Engineer nods, "Will do, sir." before heading back to the rest of the group. Mayrum sighs and leaves the RnD facility, he's been there too much this week.

His brother flashes in his mind. He balls his fist. "That damn Ava…" he mutters.

…

"I see this as another one of your failures, Ava."

"A slight misstep, sir. Nothing more."

"Can you promise me that you can kill him before he starts to interfere with our plans?"

"Of course, sir."

"I hope so. Acquiring the Madness crystal was a Job well done, yes. But you still didn't have permission to USE IT. You're on thin ice Ava. If you fail to tie up this loose end of ours, then you're subject to banishment, do I make myself clear."

"...Yes sir."

"I stuck my neck out for you, don't make me regret my decision."

The call ends.

"...You won't regret your decision. When you see what I've done I'll finally get the recognition I've been craving for so long…Just you wait."

Ava smiles as she walks out of the city hall of Aerocroft. Police cars and ambulances suddenly swarm the building. "You there! Stop!" An officer, Bisharp, shouts as the rest run inside. Ava turns to the officer, she smiles. "Why?" she says with an almost alluring tone in her voice. The officer suddenly makes a small scream, before fainting on the spot. Ava chuckles as she casually walks away.

"...Just you wait, Reyes."

* * *

**NEXT CHAPTER:**

**CHAPTER 5 - THE RAID.**

**RELEASE DATE: Before the end of the month...for sure this time…This one's been a long time in the works so I'll be able to write it easier. **

_**REVIEW TIME!**_

_**xXShadeHedgehogXx asks: Are you Elysium or are you Savagecaliber22?**_

_**Savagecaliber22 is my normal alias, and Elysium is my in-universe equivalent. So it's pretty normal that I will swap back and forth. Same with the other divines. Eternity and Evolution are based on the other 2 creators of the Robber Force AU with their own stories (JPI and The Nightbring.) Elegy is another divine, but she doesn't have a story of her own, she just helps us with ideas, hence that she's not considered one of the creators.**_

**HusseinxGaddafi asks:**

"**What is the level of the main characters?"**

**Uh...why do you wanna know? Eh whatever.**

**While I don't generally focus too much on their actual Pokemon stats (I use a tier system based on how powerful the character is, rather than level), The rule I generally go by is this.**

**Since Celatia is civilised unlike other Pokemon of the world, they don't battle nearly as often. Though, how I do it is that Level increases with age (So if one was 21 years old, they would be Level 21.) However if said Pokemon does have combat experience, then there's more EXP gained and thus a higher level. However, evolution is a different story. Normally Celatians evolve when they reach the age that they would evolve at, (Example, Jackson is 15, though when he turns 17, he evolves into Servine, regardless of his level) However, there is such a thing as an Evolution Augment, which is a small device usually embedded in the collar bone. This augment can allow Pokemon to evolve and De-evolve at will. Any sort of augmentation is not cheap, however. It will cost thousands to have it installed. **

**Anyway.**

**Here's your answer:**

**Jackson grew up pretty normal, however he'd only just started training for the Covelight Military before he disappeared. So...based on that, I'd say his level would be at around 18. **

**Cobalt has been in the military for longer. As he's also older than Jackson (He's 17) he'd definitely have a higher level, I'm gonna say...25 is a good estimate. He's also been outfitted with an evolution augment by Covelight (All elites have Evo-augments) Which is why he's a greninja and not a frogadier like he should be.**

**Violet is the youngest in this list, being a year younger than Jackson, at 14. However she… uh… nevermind, you'll find out her backstory later. I'd put her at a 21. **

**Mayrum on the other hand is 53 years old and has not only been a high ranking officer in Robber Force, but is the commander of Covelight. So he is up there! I'd give him an 88**

**There you go. You're welcome, not sure what you'll do with this information, but at least you have it. If you're curious as to why he's a Quilava and not a Typhlosion, it's simply because he reserves Typhlosion for when he's in battle and generally prefers Quilava in normal circumstances.**

**With ALL that out of the way, This is Elysium Over and Out!**


	7. Chapter 5: The Raid

**Like the new cover art? Sick right? I made the older one a couple years ago so I figured I should update it with a new one. You can view the full-rez version on the RF-Official Deviantart.**

**I've been looking forward to these next two chapters for a long time, It's time we finally see the fight I've been building up since Renegade. So as you may imagine, this is a completely action-oriented chapter. I'll shut up so that we can get to it.**

* * *

_CHAPTER 5: THE RAID._

"Jackson."

"Yeah?"

"Did you happen to take out the Cyberlock drive on the underside of the car?"

"No...I didn't even know there was one."

"DAMNIT! IT FELL OFF IN THE CHASE!"

"What was on there that was so important?"

"Weapons, munitions, medical supplies, everything that's supposed to help us not die if we're attacked. The usual stuff."

"That's bad, right?"

"Very, we need to grab another drive."

"How do we do that?"

"...we have to go into town."

"...that's bad, right?"

"...very…"

…

I find myself riding shotgun in the car yet again. Only this time, rather than running away from Covelight, we're instead driving right into an incredibly dense area where they're likely searching for us.

"I don't like this…" I admit. I can see Cobalt nod out of the corner of my vision. "Well...I don't either, _we'll just have to confront the storm head on...just plow through it and get the job done._"

"What are our odds of getting in and out undetected? Lemme guess, slim to none?"

"Well...yeah...pretty much…though our chances of actually making it home in a relatively decent shape are a bit higher. Listen, there are three caches on the outskirts, one in the center of town. We can skip the one in the center, as that houses drone parts to maintain genesect. Plus it's less heat for us. Here's the plan. This is going to be incredibly risky, but's going to get us out of the city quicker. The cache closest to us houses weapons, munitions, and most importantly, nanite cubes for Coviknight Class hoverbikes. We'll hit that first, I get Angel back in my arms, we get weapons for the house, then each of us takes a bike and hits one of the next two, since there's two of us, there should, theoretically speaking less heat on each of us. You'll hit the medical supplies, I'll hit the portable radar and sat-link equipment."

"We're splitting up?"

"Yeah."

I look at my hand worriedly, I might be able to hold my own, but there's still a sliver of doubt in the back of my mind that things may go horribly wrong and I can't make it. Or even worse, what if Cobalt doesn't make it? He's probably the only person I can rely on, he knows the plans, he knows _me_! He doesn't have the power to turn photons into weapons like I do. Then again, he is an elite, so he's likely better than the average soldier. I shake the loose thoughts and concerns out of my mind, steeling myself after a quick exhalation. I can't let my pessimism ruin this raid.

We enter the outskirts of Celatian's version of Chicago, Circling the city until we get near the weapon cache. We do a short pass by to check the defences. So short I can't really see much. Thankfully, Cobalt's sharp eyesight picked up on everything, probably helps that he was on the side facing the cache, too.

"Two guards near the gate, Lucario has an SMG, Ampharos has a shocklance. Three guards guarding the cache itself, Pangoro has twin Hydras, try to avoid getting hit by this one, the Hydraulics on his wrists double his strength. Sandslash has another SMG, and a Genesect Sentinel in Standby Mode that will no doubt activate once we attack. There's a camera on the gate and a camera that will flash a picture of us once we take a cache. So once we take the cache we gotta go. Tell the bike to navigate to the medical cache and you'll be directed to it. There should be much less security at the medical cache. Now, If anything goes wrong, I want you to fire off a flash pulse like a flare. High enough where I can see it."

"What about you?"

"I'll be fine."

"...will you?"

"I'll have Angel back! Of course I will!"

"Angel?"

"You'll see."

We pull up around the corner and get out, before placing our backs against the concrete wall surrounding the cache. The Lucario and Ampharos are standing guard, looking super bored. "I'm weak against Electricity, I'll take out the Lucario, you get the Ampharos." Cobalt orders, I nod and create a small flash in preparation. "3, 2, 1...go!" He shouts as we dash around the corner.

"So is Mark brining the casserole on monday or is he-hey, what's that?!" The Ampharos shouts as he spots us running toward them.

"WATER SHURIKEN!" Cobalt shouts as he throws two spinning stars of energised water at the steel type, hitting him dead on and knocking him onto his back, the compact weapon quickly clattering into the road. "Oh shit! IT'S THEM! SOUND THE ALARM!" The Ampharos shouts as he pulls out a rifle-shaped tesla coil. Before he can pull the trigger, I cut the coil off from the front of the weapon with a blade of light. The Ampharos grunts angrily before powering up an attack "DISCHA-" he shouts before I swipe at his face with my tail, causing him to stagger. Instincts kicking in, I hit him with a move of my own.

"LEAF BLADE!" I shout as I use the momentum from my tail slap to wind up an even powerful hit. "AGH!" The Ampharos groans in pain as he tumbles to the ground. Before he can get up I hit him with a flash pulse. His body is thrown into the concrete wall as he hits the ground with a groan "What...the fuck…" he mutters before he faints. Soon after the gate is blown off its hinges, decking me in the head and taking out the Lucario. After picking myself up I see the Pangoro standing in the entryway, "Finally! Some entertainment!" He shouts in a gruff voice. Steam hisses from two hydraulic presses fitted on each of his forearms. He shoots me a cocky grin. The Sandslash is holding back and fumbling with his weapon, looks like he didn't have a battery in it before we attacked. "Oi!" Cobalt suddenly shoots a torrent of water on the large Pokemon, causing it to yell out in intense pain. I quickly see steam rising from the affected areas. That wasn't hydro pump...that was scald! The panda angrily throws a fist in Cobalt's direction. "Too slow! Acrobatics!" Cobalt shouts, before quickly dodging the fist and applying the Pangoro with around a dozen quick strikes, before ending with a roundhouse kick causing the Pangoro to slide backward. I decide not to sit idly by and I focus my energy. Quickly finding myself covered in a shimmering aura. The Pangoro quickly looks in my direction, before quickly glancing around in other areas in search of me. I smile and rush at him. I power up a weak blade before becoming uncamouflaged and slamming him right in the gut with it. A large burst of energy ensues and the Pangoro is thrown onto his back, fainted. I barely have time to catch my breath before a flash of blue crosses my vision. I glance in the direction, but end up getting shot square in the chest with a bolt of plasma. The pain surges through my body as I'm thrown to the ground from the force. "JACKSON!" Cobalt shouts in a panic, before diving for the identical SMG in the middle of the road and firing back. The Sandslash is hit square in the face. Spinning in recoil with the trigger pulled, hitting the Genesect in the neck just as it activates, the neck is obliterated as the drone's eyes fade to blackness and the head drops to the ground with its neck sparking with electricity. The Sandslash hits the ground and is immobilized Cobalt rushes over to me, "Are you alright?"

"...I can't feel anything…but I'm alright..." I groan. Cobalt sighs in relief, "Right. Guards only carry stun rounds. You'll be alright."

Cobalt slings me over his shoulders and walks up to the warehouse in front of him, accessing a console just in front of the door. He places his hand on the scanner and then types a few things into the keyboard. Before long I see a flash of light come from the corner of the building. I look over and spot a security camera. Suddenly Cobalt pulls out a large hard drive, about the size of a laptop and two small cubes. "Can you move?" he asks. I try and succeed, though it feels like my entire body has fallen asleep, like the feeling you get when you sleep on your arm and it feels all static-y, but for my whole body. "Yeah. It still tingles a bit though." I answer.

Whelp, time to get to work.

_Meanwhile…_

A few officers Idle about in the Covelight Camaro Outpost Bravo. Today has been like every other day. A few minor calls here and there because the Police don't want to deal with something. They don't complain though, it means they get paid to do nothing, really.

"_Attention all local units, Fugitives Jackson Chaser and Elite Corporal Cobalt Ducati have Raided the Camaro Weapons Cache! Respond to the scene and apprehend them!"_

The Prototype Immediately comes out of sleep mode upon receiving the call on the radio. Startling the officers, "Whoa! The drone's moving!" one of them shouts. Pluto then Sprints outdoors. Before it's body folds up to form a flying saucer shape. To most people, this shape is quite normal for Genesect, as it's how they fly at high speeds. Pluto quickly takes off for the cache.

_Meanwhile…...again…_

Violet is awoken by an emergency alert tone coming from her Radio. Quickly shooting upwards in the bed of her motel room.

"_Attention all local units, Fugitives Jackson Chaser and Elite Corporal Cobalt Ducati have Raided the Camaro Weapons Cache! Respond to the scene and apprehend them!"_

"...haha...hahaha…."

Suddenly Violet bursts into intense hysterical laughter before quickly grabbing her things and dashing out of the room.

_Back to our protagonists._

Cobalt Throws a pair of small metal cubes into the air. Which then stop for a second, hovering. Before splitting open, unleashing a flash of blue light, before the light morphs into the shape of two different sized bikes. The cubes return to Cobalt. "You like it? We may or may not have reverse engineered the Human's Pokemon Containment Capsules...whatever they're called...Pokeballs! That's what they're called! It's how we developed these and the Cyberlock system." Cobalt explain, Straddling the seat of the bike, before it suddenly activates and lifts into the air. "You know the Plan. Good luck." He shouts, before quickly jetting away. I hear Sirens in the distance. I waste no time and get on the bike myself. It quickly lifts into the air.

"Okay...Um...bike, go to the Medical Cache, and try to avoid any Covelight or Police." I ask. The Vehicle beeps in response, and Suddenly the glass windshield turns on a Heads-up-display. With a route painted on the ground. "Alright then." I mutter, I'm a bit nervous riding one of these for the first time. I don't have time to dawdle, however. I place my hands on the handlebars and pull back on the throttle and the Hovering motorcycle jets forward at an insane speed. "OH SHI-" I shout in surprise, letting off to steel myself and get used to the handling. "Okay...Let's try that again." I mutter, before aligning with the path on My HUD and Juicing the throttle again. The bike races forward. This time I'm ready for it. However it isn't long before I see a few Bolts of plasma hit the ground next to me. I turn around to see a trio of Genesect following me from above. "Shit!" I shout as I gas it in an attempt to outrun them to no avail. "Autodrive!" I shout as the bike suddenly steadies itself and follows the path I set for it. I quickly look back at the trio of drones on my tail. I summon one of my domed Shields to protect myself. Blue lasers slam against the wall of white. I feel myself become slightly more energized. "_So when I block energy based attacks I use the Light from it to recover." _I think to myself, before Blasting one of them with a Flash Pulse. The drone easily turns to scrap metal on contact. Another one of the Drones transforms back into it's bipedal, buglike stance, though still flying. I can see the barrel of it's drive cannon lighting up. The other dives down, it's body now covered in a magenta aura. The bike suddenly swerves to dodge a car. The Genesect also swerves out of the way, but hits a parked vehicle in the process, I watch as it's purple body crinkles up like a tin can and it tumbles down the road with black eyes. "Fuck you asshole! Hahaha!" I cheer in response, but then remember the one above me. It unleashes a massive beam of energy in front of my bike. "Ah crap." I mutter before the beam impacts the asphalt and I'm thrown off the bike from the explosion.

I tumble down the road, now covered in cuts and scrapes. I wince in pain, "Agh...man that hurt…" I groan, Slowly standing up and wiping off the blood seeping out of my mouth. I notice my blood...is...white? And Glowing? "What the hell? Why does it look like that?" I question painfully.

I look to see the Culprit land in front of me. It raises it's arms toward me with stiff, robotic movements. Its hands start glowing blue as more beams of plasma start shooting out of the robot's knub-hands. I painfully throw out a shield, the beams bouncing off the dome. I can feel my stamina start to recover slightly. I feel my wounds start to itch, _really _badly, unfortunately I can't really seem to do anything about that. The Genesect stops firing, Before a panel pops out of its arm, shooting steam out from it. Now's my chance! I Close my fist and quickly run up and decapitate it.

I sigh in relief, before noticing that my wounds no longer hurt...or itch… I look down to my forearm, which got a bad scrape on my fall. I wipe away the blood to find said scrape had...disappeared? The hell? I decide to not worry about it and look back to my bike.

Well it's upside down and backwards, but it's still hovering at least. I flip it over and turn it around, before hopping back on and continuing.

_Meanwhile…_

Pluto drops down at the weapon cache, turning back into its normal form. It quickly scans the area to find nothing but a bunch of guards just now recovering from fainting. It spots the Security Camera on the gate.

_REQUESTING ACCESS TO CAMERA FEED_

…

…

…

_ACCESS GRANTED._

_BEGINNING PLAYBACK._

Pluto sees his target through the eyes of the Camera on the gate.

"Okay...Um...bike, go to the Medical Cache, and try to avoid any Covelight or Police." Jackson says. Before taking off."

Pluto's eyes flash before he turns back into his Flight mode and zooms away.

…

Violet arrives at the weapon cache. She finds the Pangoro at the gate looking PISSED. "Where is he?" She shouts at the guard. "We don't know! They took a drive and then left! We don't know where they left." Violet grits her teeth in anger, but then spots something.

A red, empty, and kinda beat up Kerzeo Neo.

That's their car.

Violet gets an idea and grins.

* * *

_**UP NEXT: CHAPTER 6: The Mechanical Headhunter. (THE PLUTO FIGHT! HELL YEAH!)**_

**Oh hey, I actually made the deadline, yay!**

**No reviews, so I'll just leave it here. This is Elysium Over and out!**


	8. Chapter 6: The Metallic Headhunter

**PLUTO FIGHT LET'S DO THIS!**

* * *

I ram the bike through the gate of the Medical cache. Startling the Flygon and hitting the Scizor in the process. I quickly leap off the bike. "What the- it's you!" The Flygon shouts, powering up a flamethrower. Before he can react, I shoot a Flash at him. He's knocked to the ground "Ooh...man…" he groans, before ACTUALLY GETTING BACK UP.

Slightly stunned by this revelation. I fail to notice the Scizor to my left nail me with X-Scissor. The super effective move throws me against the fence, I cry out in agony. I see an X shaped cut on my chest. It seems like it's... disappearing! It's at that point that it hits me.

It's noon, the sun is right in the middle of the sky. Basking the whole city in it's warm radiance.

My body is taking the sunlight and using it to repair the damage, I notice that my left arm is in the shade of the gate operation booth, and it still has a scrape from me hitting the ground. So I can only heal in direct sunlight, it seems. This would be a problem indoors, but since I'm outside, I'm gonna make use of this fast healing. I look down to see the cut on my chest reduced to a mere scar. The Scizor notices this. "Wait, I hit you square in the chest! How are you not wounded?!" I stand up. I show him the scrape on my arm fade away in the sunlight. "Photosynthesis, son. It heals my wounds faster than you can make them."

I step forward with a smirk, "You can't hurt me. So why don't you save me the effort and give me a drive before I have to use your unconscious bodies to do it for me."

I like Photosynthesis as a name for my solar regeneration ability, actually. I think I'll stick with it.

Scizor growls and rushes me "I just didn't hit you hard enough!" He shouts, before I project a shield to stop him in his tracks, he smacks against the shield with a grunt, "What?" he asks angrily. I drop the shield, powering a blade in my other hand. The loss of the shield causes the Scizor to fall forward unexpectedly. I perform an uppercut, causing the Scizor to be thrown back, sparkling with Light energy. He hits the ground groaning with his eyes in swirls. I look at the Flygon, who stares at me in shock.

"Look man, I don't get paid enough for this shit." he admits, quickly shuffling over to the cache and placing his hand on the scanner. "Smart man" I say. The Flygon throws me the laptop-sized hard drive. He glances to the unconscious Scizor on the ground. "He'll be alright. I'm being framed, so I don't want to make sure Covelight has a reason to arrest me by killing anyone." I explain, getting back on the bike.

"...good luck?" the Flygon questions. I nod and speed away.

Okay, just gotta head back to the car now.

I place the drive on the convenient drive holder on the side of the bike. I speed through the streets, dodging traffic.

Finally I drive down a street with a large office building under construction. Eyes on the road, I fail to notice the glint to my right getting closer and closer until it finally slams into me at full speed. Knocking me off of the bike and into the construction site. I groan loudly as I lay there trying to process what happened. I sit up to see a Genesect Sentinel enter it's normal form, but this Genesect looks a lot different from the others.

The Genesect is silver in color, with a black head crest, yellow claws and feet. Black arms with Silver forearms, a yellow stripe going across its abdomen. The word 'EXPERIMENTAL' is written on top of it's head just above the Covelight Logo, which is printed on its forehead. It's eyes are glowing a bright yellow color. Instead of the teeth that Genesect normally have, the space in-between its eyes is occupied by small air intakes, rectangular in shape.

"_BEGINNING PLAYBACK" _I hear an automated voice speak from the robot.

"_Hello Chaser, if you're hearing this, then you're about to meet your end. This is BX-88c. An experimental model of Genesect Sentinel designed to combat those with gifts such as yourself. It's loaded with an A.I. called Pluto, separate from the rest of the Drone network and it's mobility is enhanced. It's also outfitted with experimental weapons. Needless to say, you better turn yourself in while you have the chance." _Mayrum's voice echoes out of the machine. Before it enters a combat stance. I glance around my environment, It's nothing but concrete and glassless windows all around. I'm surprisingly unhurt by that ram Pluto did.

"Alright then. I'll just do what I did with the rest of them." I explain to myself.

The genesect's arms split in half, allowing the muzzle of a gun to poke out. I throw up a shield and rush it. It takes aim without hesitation and I realise my mistake.

It fires a shot, but unlike blue plasma like the other Genesect, it's red, with a dark core. The bolt hits my shield, creating a small burst of energy upon impact. I watch as my domed wall of safety starts disintegrating right before my eyes.

My eyes widen when I see this, "SHIT!" I shout, quickly getting rid of it to remake another one, unfortunately Pluto takes advantage of this and flies forward with blinding speed, before clotheslining me with it's arm. I hit the ground with an 'oof!'

I can barely get my bearings before Pluto grasps me with it's split open arm and tosses me across the room into a pillar. I cry out in pain as the shock ripples through my body. I find myself right next to the window. I look over to see the mechanical warrior turn itself towards me.

I power up a flash pulse, aiming right at it.

"Gotcha." I taunt, releasing the projectile.

Pluto takes the projectile head on. It staggers back and freezes up as light energy sparks around it, however, when the dust clears. The only thing damaged in that attack was the paint making up the logo on its head. I hear a mechanical growl come from the machine. Luckily, the surge of energy has caused it to be paralyzed temporarily.

"You gotta be kidding." I grumble. I charge another one but rather than aim it at my enemy, I point it out of the window and fire it straight up into the sky. It flies upward for a second before exploding in a bright ball of light that's visible throughout the whole city. "Come on Cobalt. You have to have seen that." I mutter, looking back to the robotic menace across the room. The energy stops sparking and an electronic roar comes from the Genesect. I quickly power up a blade and rush it. "Haaaaagh!" I bellow as I give the machine one long swipe going up its body. I glance down to see a gash in it's eye, which flickers a tiny bit. I also see a forearm right above me.

Crap.

It slams down on me, knocking me down to its feet. I grunt as I bounce a few inches off the ground. I quickly look up to see the Genesect lifting its leg to try and stomp me. I quickly camouflage and roll away. The Genesect slams it's foot down, but it's head turns in my direction. It quickly fires a burst of red plasma at me, grazing my arm. My flesh burns as I cry out in agony, my cloak immediately fades away. I glance at my arm to find an entire chunk missing, I even think I can spot the bone, but it's hard to tell given that my blood is essentially liquid photons and everything's white.

But how did it know where to aim?! I was camouflaged! It should've been impossible to see me!

I take one look at it's eyes and I can see the answer. His eyes have gone from gold to a gradient of red, yellow, green, and blue.

It could see my heat signature

Of course it can see in fucking thermal.

Soon after, however, the android kicks me out of the window I fall 3 stories before landing on my back in the dirt. I'm blinded by the sunlight, yet I know what sunlight means for me.

Before, I had a roof over my head, but now I don't. I can already feel my wounds starting to itch. Especially the hole in my arm. The sunlight is quickly blocked by the silhouette of the experimental Genesect. Before it slams down in the dirt behind me. I quickly try to get up as quickly as I can, though I become slightly dizzy in the process. The Genesect's guns retract back into its arms. In its place, two panels pop out of the top corners of its drive cannon. I can see four small holes in the panels, with red cones of metal poking out of them.

What are tho-

THOSE ARE FUCKING ROCKETS!

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" I shout as 8 small rockets shoot out of the top of the genesect's cannon, four at a time. I double backwards in fear, "Noooo!" I scream as I watch as the world goes negative. I can feel a sort of countdown in my mind

10

9

8

7

6

I look toward the rockets to see them frozen in their tracks along with the rest of the world. "What?" I ask myself, confused.

5

4

3

I quickly move behind the rockets, well out of the blast zone, I feel the countdown get quicker the faster I go. I see a trail of light in my wake before the world returns to normal. The rockets impact the ground, causing a shockwave that kicks up all the dirt in the construction site.

What the hell did I just do?!

It felt like I was able to stop time, but I know I didn't do that. It feels more like I was able to...move faster than light for a short amount of time, and if we take relativity into account, that means that everything appears slower for me, even though it isn't.

The drone witnesses this event. I can see it's eyes turn a deep blue as a low tone is heard.

...I don't think I've ever thought that a combat A.I. could blue-screen, but apparently it has. The drone shook its head for a second, it's eyes going back to their gold coloring. The rocket launchers, now depleted, retract back into the cannon. I can see a red light fill the barrel of the cannon.

Here it comes.

I quickly rush the Drone as a bolt of energy is fired from its back mounted cannon. The bolt soars over my head, I grin and summon another blade, pouring more energy into it to make it sharper. I leap at the robot's face, Swinging violently, my blade doesn't connect.

Wait a minute

Why am I falling backwards?

I feel a massive force start pulling me away from my target. I yelp as I hit the ground and start tumbling backwards. I see a large vortex of red energy sucking in small objects and disintegrating them. That's about to become me in a few seconds.

Shit, It's smart, It knew I would try to rush it so it fired behind me to get me to be sucked into the vortex!

I lower the sharpness of the blade and jam it into the ground, slowing myself down enough for me to look at my adversary. It picks up a trash can and throws it at me, knocking me into the vortex, however the vortex implodes before I take any damage.

But implosion only leads to an explosion.

A massive shock wave sends pain through my body and throwing me into the air. Pluto intercepts me and kicks me downward. I hit the ground and grunt accordingly.

I can't beat it.

Pluto's too strong, nothing I do seems to do any noticeable damage, yet I'm here fighting for my life.

Pluto kicks me onto my back and opens its arm again. It holds me down with its steel boot as it points the barrel of its arm blaster right at my forehead.

This is it. I'm sorry Cobalt.

I see a teal laser sight pan up Pluto's body, stopping at it's right eye. The drone gets distracted and turns its head toward the source before the right side of its head suddenly explodes into scrap metal. I hear a loud crack in the distance immediately after. The robot stumbles off of me.

…

"That's right...turn this way, wanker." Cobalt mutters. Cycling the bolt on his rifle.

Pluto turns in the direction of the shot and aims it's arm blaster in his direction.

"Perfect." He whispers. Aiming up and to the left of its Target. Depressing and holding the trigger. His weapon charges it's electromagnets before a steel cylinder is shot through them, the magnets propelling it to supersonic speeds.

Cobalt watches the round get pulled down by gravity and be pushed by the wind until it hits Pluto dead center in the chest.

…

Suddenly the large yellow light on its chest is hit with a projectile. It explodes, blowing me away a few feet. I watch as Pluto falls to the ground, the light fading from its eyes.

I sigh in relief and collapse back onto my back, panting heavily. "Holy Shit…" I huff. I lay there, letting the sun fix my wounds. Before my sun is blocked by my savior leaning over me.

"Oi, are you alright?"

"I am now... fuckin' hell, I owe ya pal." I chuckle.

Cobalt sighs in relief, before snickering. "You had me worried there mate. You get the drive?"

I nod and finally sit up. "My bike." I explain. Cobalt helps me up. I look at my arm, it's still a bit damaged, but the hole is gone. "So it turns out that I have super healing when in the sun." I explain. Cobalt takes the drive out of my bike. "I was about to say you looked a lot better up close than than through the scope" he remarks, it's at this point I notice a white, dark grey and cyan LED accented sniper rifle slung across his back. What confuses me is that the barrel is two tubes poking out from the front of the gun, with a large gap in the middle.

It's then I realize that this is actually a railgun. A weapon that flings physical projectiles at incredibly high speeds through pushing a projectile through a tunnel of magnets, the magnets push on the back of the round and accelerates it to supersonic speeds. I'm a tiny bit impressed. Kinetic weapons (weapons that fire physical, metal rounds) are really uncommon after energy weapons took the country by storm decades ago. The rounds of Kinetic weapons are affected by wind and gravity, and require a ton of experience and mental math to calculate where to aim to hit your target.

"Let me guess, that's your 'angel' you kept raving about?" I ask jokingly. Cobalt takes a second to process my question, before nodding. "Oh, yeah. This is my one of a kind rifle, I helped design it. It's a railgun with an energy SMG built in, in case things get tight."

So that's why he likes it so much, he made it himself...or at least helped in its creation.

"Let's get back to the car before any Covelight show up." He suggests. I nod in response.

…

we quickly ride by the weapons cache, they spot us. But we get in the car and drive off.

Though... for whatever reason, the trunk was popped and Cobalt had to shut it before we took off. We had to lose a helicopter before leaving the city and heading back to the cabin.

I feel off, like there's someone else here in the car with us, when there isn't. Cobalt doesn't seem to feel the same, so I ignore it.

In the end, we managed to get in and out with only a little bit of trouble in the form of Pluto. After describing my encounter. Cobalt says that Covelight had somehow managed to make energy weapons that use Red Matter. Which is incredibly volatile substance that if unstable, has the potential to become a singularity, and has antimatter-like properties.

I shake off the adrenaline and decide that it's good that we got the drives and that the mission was successful.

...what is this third presence I feel?!

* * *

**Up next: Chapter 7, The Daughter of Covelight. **

**Alright, Alright, Alright! We are reaching the halfway point my friends. Whoo boy I had fun with that fight. And we're about to be fully introduced to the third main character of the Covelight trilogy, along with Jackson's unique ability, Clairvoyance! I can't wait!**

**...**

**Though, I'm gonna have to wait.**

**I'm gonna take a little bit of a break for a couple months, I'm moving across the country in October to attend a film school and I have a ton of preparations to do. I'll still be writing, but I'm not gonna post until all is said and done. Hopefully I'll have multiple chapters done and can release them periodically instead of making you guys wait for me to write each chapter.**

**Expect updates to return in April. I apologise for this, however I'm still going to answer any questions you may have about the AU. So keep them coming. **

**This is Elysium over and out.**


	9. Chapter 7: The Daughter of Covelight

**Remember how I said I'd come back in April? I LIED! I COME BACK…..THE WEEK BEFORE APRIL! AHA! YOU'VE BEEN japed! It was different to what you were….I'll stop now.**

**Man...the world went to shit, huh? What with the Coronavirus and all that. You know how the San Francisco Bay Area was just locked down? That's where **_**I **_**live. **

**To be honest, I'm not afraid of the Virus itself. I just hate what it's done to everything else. The lockdowns, the economy, The Toilet Paper crisis of 2020. The fact that I couldn't find shredded parmesan at safeway. Everyone INCLUDING MY FATHER buying guns...for some reason. At least the memes have been good. **

**Anyway, I'm sure ya'll have heard enough COVID news for...well, ever. So I'll change the subject. Here you'll be introduced to the Covelight Trilogy's female lead, as well as Jackson's unique ability, clairvoyance. We're reaching the halfway point assuming I don't draw out the ending. So things will be moving a lot faster now. Let's get into this.**

* * *

"Look, I think it's fine, you're just being paranoid."

"Maybe, but I seriously can't shake this feeling."

"Look, when we get to the house, we'll check both of the trunks, and if we find someone we'll detain them."

"Alright."

We're about 5 minutes away from the house, we had to take an alternate route to shake off any heat we might've been carrying. Ever since we left, I've been feeling on edge, like someone is watching, listening, or straight up in the car with us. Cobalt thinks I'm just paranoid, to be honest, I think I might be paranoid myself.

I look to my arm, studying the two white stripes running along the inside and outside of my arm. The upside down triangle on the front and back of my hand. What have I learned so far regarding my abilities?

The most basic is my explosive ball of light, which I've been calling a Flash Pulse.

If I crush a flash pulse or create one with a closed fist, I create a blade that extends in front of my knuckles. I don't have a name for it yet... I think I'll go with Heaven's Saber.

Said Heaven's Saber can be projected into a domed shield. For a name, I think I'll call it Radiant Barrier.

That's it in terms of my offensive abilities. I may learn more over time. Then there's my more utility based abilities.

If I focus my power throughout my whole body, I can bend the light around me to turn myself invisible to the naked eye, but as I learned from Pluto. I can still be seen through other means, such as thermal. Useful in a pinch, but I shouldn't rely on it. I've called this ability Camouflage, I was gonna call it Refraction, but Camouflage seems a bit more fitting.

Next, I passively absorb sunlight to mend wounds, so far I'm not sure how much exactly I can heal. It doesn't seem to work unless I'm in direct contact with sunlight. I also know that I can manually absorb light to recover, though I'm not experienced enough to efficiently pull it off. I'm sure I can get the hang of it with enough practice. I wonder, will I over-charge myself if I absorb too much light? Questions for later. I'm dubbing this ability Photosynthesis.

Finally, there's whatever I did earlier. Where the world slowed down and I was able to move a short distance before everything returned to normal. I really don't know how I did that. But for now I think I'll call it... Blink. As it seemed to be almost like a short teleport to the outside world. I'll have to see if I can do it again, learn more about it.

Cobalt mentioned that I was _A_ Chosen of light, which suggests that there are more like me, or at some point WERE more like me. The thought of others like me is comforting, in a way. If I could find one, oh the amount of questions I'd have for them.

Do they share the same set of powers, or is every Chosen of light unique, with their own powers? Can some control light more than others? If we share the same powers, is there "official"names for the abilities, or does everyone have their own names? How do you become Chosen? Why is my blood white? How many abilities are there that I don't know of?

I shake my head, we're at the house, I need to stop zoning out. "Right then." Cobalt announces, grabbing his rifle from the dashboard. We both get out and head to the front. Cobalt presses a button on Angel. The front of the weapon splits open and flips over, the rails at the end, collapsing into the receiver. A barrel pops out of the gap, the muzzle glowing blue, the scope is pulled into the top of the receiver blending flawlessly with the body. 3 holographic rings replace the area, acting as a short sight for closer ranges. So that's Angel's SMG configuration. Cobalt touches the Frunk with his foot, quickly aiming into it as the lid pops up. Though it appears to be empty, save for a small case with papers spilling out of it. Cobalt moves on to the rear trunk. I hop on his shoulder, as I'm not tall enough to see into the trunk, myself. He pops it open and aims his weapon.

…

Nothing aside from the car's battery. Cobalt and I sigh. "See? Nothing." Cobalt grunts. I shrug, "Yeah. I guess I was just being paranoid. Sorry."

"Hey, we got the drives. It's fine."

I nod. "Right. I'll go get them." I announce, hopping off of his shoulder and heading back to the passenger side. I collect the drives, damn they're heavy. I decide to take multiple trips. I grab the communication drive. I exit the garage, spotting Cobalt unlocking the door. I head down the path, however I stop when I see a green light appear behind Cobalt.

Wait….

THAT'S THE SHAPE OF A SNIVY'S TAIL!

"COBALT! BEHIND YOU!" I shout as the tail flies upward. "Wha-AGH!" He shouts, however he can't react quick enough. The leaf blade slams against the back of his head, he's knocked into the door. His eyes roll back and shut. The culprit suddenly becomes known.

Shimmering fractal particles dissipate. A Snivy sticks their landing. They open their eyes and look at me. Their eyes are a vivid aqua blue. They have a black bandana around their neck. The Snivy grins upon eye contact, they giggle a bit. "I found you!" She cheers.

She winks at me, before flipping up her bandana, which then turns her invisible. I hear her footsteps on the deck, before she hits the pavement, now she's inaudible. I drop the drive and enter a defensive stance. "Turning invisible when you were hiding in the trunk to make us think you weren't there. Clever." I quip. I hear her giggle to my left. I quickly fire a Flash Pulse in that direction. She yelps as the pulse hits the ground and explodes in a flash, I can see her cloak break for a small second as it gets washed out by the light.

Suddenly I see the world turn dark. I can see a black orb where she just was. I can feel a resonance with this orb.

I feel something.

I feel….light, underneath that black exterior, I feel light. I see the darkness suddenly crack. Before the world returns to normal.

….what the fuck was that?

I hear her yell from behind me. I quickly dart my vision around to see her readying a red knife. I quickly jump to the side and hit her in the back with a Heaven's Saber. A weak one, anyway. She growls as she's thrown to the ground, quickly picking herself back up.

She spits out a small bit of blood. "Got another one in ya?" She taunts. I see the world fade again, a larger crack has appeared in the shell. The world returns. She turns invisible again.

"Oh you think you have the advantage here?" I taunt. I Camouflage myself and move to the side. "Eh? What the-?" I hear her mutter.

I slightly make out a shimmer. I squint to try and get a better look, but then my vision turns pink.

I can see her, clearly now.

Wait.

I stop squinting, my vision returns to normal, I squint again. It happens again. I grin. "I can see the full light spectrum!" I explain. I can see her slightly panic. I shoot a Flash Pulse at her, impacting her in the chest. She screams as she's thrown into the grass. Her cloak disabled.

I see the orb again, it chips, causing a small bit of light to shine through.

The Pulse revealed my position, too. She grunts and stands back up. "You are one stubborn motherfucker." I remark. "I have to! This can be my ticket to becoming a Covelight Elite! All I need to do is stop you!" She shouts. She twirls open her butterfly knife. "I don't need stealth to kill you!" She screams, rushing me with her knife. I summon a Saber and prepare for hand to hand combat. She swipes at my chest, I jump backwards, swiping downwards with my Saber, hitting her on the snout.

Another chip.

She grunts, but doesn't stop her assault. She tackles me to the ground, straddling my hips. She raises her knife, I cross my arms. She slams her knife down, I catch the blade between my wrists. She struggles as she pushes harder and harder down. "JUST DIE!" She screams in rage. I grin, "Gotcha." I chirp. Forming a Flash Pulse in both of my hands, before turning my palms toward her. She gasps, eyes widening. I fire both of them, point blank, right at her face. She screams in agony as she soars through the air.

The shell shatters, as I see nothing but light.

She lands on the deck, sparking with energy. She sits up for a second looking right at me. She looks exhausted.

"Who the fuck are you…..?" She groans, before blacking out. I spend a second to catch my breath.

"Holy fuck…" I sigh.

…

"You gotta be kidding me." Cobalt grumbles, staring at our intruder, who I've tied to a chair. She's still unconscious, and I still don't know what that whole orb thing was.

"What?" I ask him. Cobalt places his hands on his head. "Oooohhh nooo…. I know who this is…" he explains.

"Who?"

"Her name is Violet. She's the adopted daughter of Mayrum Covelight."

Wait…

DAUGHTER?!

"Oh shit!" I exclaim. "Yeah! Mayrum's going to try extra hard to find us now!" He explains.

"What are we going to do about her?! We can't just keep her here!" I inquire. Cobalt nods, "Right...uuuhhh...We use her as ransom, we ask him to drop the charges in return for her."

"Cobalt. That's the worst idea you've had yet." I ridicule.

"Well I don't see you coming up with better ide-"

"Mmmmmmmh…."

Our prisoner opens her eyes. Cobalt has disappeared. "Ah fuck no!" He shouts from the door frame. "What?" I ask, wondering what his problem is. "Long story short, she was turned into a living weapon by ex-Covelight scientists and adopted by Mayrum in hopes of reversing the damage!"

"She's tied down, Cobalt." I explain with a glare.

"Who…?" She groans, her voice sounds softer than before. She gazes groggily at me. "Wha... what happened…?" She groans. "Well I hit you in the head with a pair of magic concussion balls made of light. Try anything funny and I double that." I explain.

"Th-...the voice…" she mutters, glancing downward. I tilt my head a bit in confusion. "Voice?" I ask.

"It's….gone…" she whispers.

"The voice is gone." She exclaims. She darts her vision to me. "How? How did you do it?!" She demands. "I don't...what are you talking about?" I ask. "They implanted my mind with that of a serial killer! Mayrum tried for years to find a way to undo it, and yet you come along and do it in seconds! How did you do it?!" She shouts.

"Don't listen to her, Jackson! She's just trying to lull you into a false sense of security." Cobalt explains, not moving from the door frame.

I look Violet in the eyes. "While I was fighting you, I caught glimpses. Of a black shell around a white orb. Every time I hit you, I chipped a piece of the darkness away, leaving only the light. Now you tell me that your mind is no longer being controlled by an experiment to turn you into a weapon. The dots add up." I explain.

"What is your name?"

"It's….Alexis...though, I'm so used to going by Violet at this point...so...I guess you can call me by that?"

"Any family, Violet?"

"I don't know…..it's still a little fuzzy."

"I know what you mean."

"Jackson, are you saying you're trusting this psycho?" Cobalt quivers.

"I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt." I reply.

"...thank you…" she interrupts. I turn back to her.

"I…. have been taking the backseat to my life for years... you undid that. Thank you. I don't…" she starts trailing off.

Well, whatever I'm doing better not bite me in the ass.

I uncuff her from the chair and stand her up. "Here, you probably haven't slept in a while. There's a bedroom downstairs, get some rest." I offer. She nods and groggily heads downstairs.

I hear a door shut from downstairs.

"Jackson."

"I know."

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING MATE?!"

"Look, I just have a feeling alright."

"A FEELING?!"

"Look, something was happening during our fight. I was catching glimpses of something."

"Huh? Glimpses of what?"

"I think... I was seeing her soul, Cobalt."

"What? No, that can't be right! I might not know much about nightbring religion in regards to Chosen of light, but I'm pretty sure they don't have the ability to see a person's soul!" He fumes

"Look, as the fight went on, I started to chip away at some kinda dark shell around her soul. When the fight was over, I had completely destroyed the shell. Now I can already tell that she's a completely different person."

"Jackson, you're not making any sense."

"I think what I'm trying to say is I have the ability to draw out the light in other people."

"And you think somehow she's not gonna try and kill us the second she wakes up."

"Well... I don't know, again I have a feeling."

"We ARE NOT jeopardizing ourselves because you have a soft spot for those in your egg group!"

"...what? No, that's not what this is about! Cobalt, think about it, this is Mayrum's adopted daughter. Imagine the advantage we'd have with her on our side! Look, she knows Mayrum better than anyone! She can give us information as to why this is happening, and she can help to convince him to let us go."

Cobalt makes a motion like he wants to speak, but stops himself.

"Alright... I'll trust your instincts, just know. If this backfires. That's on you."

"Okay, I'll take responsibility for this. We'll see what happens when she wakes up."

"Fine, I'm going to bed early."

"Alright, good night Cobalt."

Cobalt heads upstairs to the loft. I myself don't feel particularly tired, so I decide to light the fireplace and watch the disappearing sun out of the window.

"Jackson." An unknown voice echoes in my mind. I shoot upwards in my seat, gazing around the room, "Hello?" I ask.

"...answers…..give….you…. come..." the voice echoes.

"Who are you?" I ask, still darting my vision around the room.

Silence.

...what was that?

They said something about giving me answers, everything else was unintelligible.

...

That was a message.

A message for me!

Wait! What was the rest of it?!

* * *

**Next time: Chapter 8, The Message.**

**Next Friday**


	10. Chapter 8: The Message

**Chapter 8: The Message.**

* * *

I didn't sleep.

I had one of those nights where you feel tired, but can't sleep no matter how much you try. It's alright though, Cobalt and I agreed to take turns sleeping, but since I have yet to sleep, I just...kinda gave up. I'll let him sleep. He earned it after yesterday.

I throw another log on the fire and shut the fireplace. Hitting the blower switch. Blowing warm air into the room. I sit back down on the couch. I glance at the clock, 6:43am, given the fact that it's October, the sun should rise not too long from now. I sigh and lay back. I grab the book I was reading through the night. It's a large guidebook on how to do certain things traditionally. It's quite cool, actually. It has everything from how to weave baskets, how to start a fire without a lighter, how to carve things out of stone, how to cook this, that. Right now I'm reading how to make an oven out of granite. Yeah, granite. In other words it shows how to accomplish certain tasks without the use of modern technology.

I got a message in my head a few hours ago and haven't heard anything since. I know that whatever it was, it had to be important. If I had to guess it mentioned that they had answers for me. The voice was kinda familiar, but nobody seems to come to mind.

Those few audible words sent my mind racing, though reading seems to have calmed me down a bit.

'The paste from an oran berry can double as a temporary adhesive', Neat.

I hear a door shut downstairs. I look over the back of the couch towards the stairwell to see yesterday's stowaway making her way up the stairs. She freezes like a Sawsbuck in headlights when she locks eyes with me.

"Up early I see." I announce, trying to relieve the tension, even just a little bit.

"Uhh….yeah...You too it seems." She replies hesitantly.

"I couldn't sleep. Why don't you have a seat, warm up a bit." I offer.

She hesitates, then sits in the chair across from me. "If I'm supposed to be your hostage, why are you showing me hospitality? I tried to kill you yesterday." She inquires.

"Well first, I can already see that you're not the same person, you were completely different during our fight yesterday. Like you were possessed, then you wake up and suddenly that psychotic rage has vanished. That and I had visual evidence to back myself up. Cobalt's the one who's suspicious of you." I explain.

"I assume Cobalt's the Greninja...and what's your name?" She asks

"Jackson."

She leans forward a bit, staring into my eyes curiously.

"What... are you?" she asks.

I knew that question was going to come up.

"Well. According to Cobalt, I'm something called a Chosen of Light. Long story short, I've been gifted with the power to control light."

Violet studies me, "That explains the eyes and the glowing stripes, but how does controlling light lead to you finally being the one to fix me?"

"Violet, I wish I could tell you. I've only been Chosen for a couple days. I woke up in a hospital bed, with absolutely no memory, with these strange powers. Mayrum comes in and attempts to arrest me, I escape, and now I find myself on the run from an organization, and I have no Idea why. The only tie to my past being Cobalt, who's been my friend for years, and he has no Idea either, apparently I disappeared for a bit before I woke up in that hospital. That's another reason we've kept you around. You're his adopted daughter, maybe you know why this is happening."

Violet lowers her gaze, thinking. "Sorry, I don't know why this is happening. Mayrum suddenly just went nuts over hunting you, like, overnight just…'That Chaser is a menace and we need him in custody!'" she answers.

I sigh. Still at a dead end, it seems.

But then Violet looks me in the eyes.

"I might have an idea, however." She continues. I quickly set down my book and lean forward, "Really?" I inquire quickly.

Violet nods, "Mayrum got himself a new assistant recently. An Umbreon." She explains, an unexplainable chill goes down my spine. "Ever since she showed up, Mayrum's been acting different. He's always been taking her advice, trying not to disappoint her."

"Why's that weird?"

"Because he, REALLY tries hard to not disappoint her, it's almost as if he's afraid of her."

"Interesting, tell me more about this assistant."

"She looks different from a lot of other Umbreon. Her rings are red."

My eyes widen, I start sweating...what's happening to me?

"And they're diamond shaped."

I start hyperventilating

"I believe her name is Ava Nocturne."

I feel incredibly dizzy, my vision goes black. An image of the Umbreon she describes flashes in my mind. I hear feminine laughter in my mind.

"_DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW GOOD THIS FEELS?!" _An unknown voice echoes through my mind.

"Jackson?"

A full blown anxiety attack overwhelms me. "Violet! Violet! What's ha-!"

"Jackson, You're having an anxiety attack! Breathe!"

It doesn't work.

"Jackson, listen to my voice."

"Inhale."

I obey

"One...two...three...Hold. One...two...three…Exhale. One...two...three. Keep repeating that."

Slowly, but surely, my vision returns, my dizziness passes. I feel sick. Violet's knelt by my side, "Are you alright?" She asks.

"...I think so." I reply

"What was that about?" Violet presses.

"I don't know. Something about that name, that description, it's like it set something off in my mind, something that wasn't supposed to be triggered."

Violet moves away. "I'm sorry for causing that, I didn't know."

"I didn't either."

Violet gets back in her seat, "And...I'm sorry for yesterday. If I knew how to make it up to you, I would."

I only nod in response.

"So. Now that I have 'freed' you, so to speak. What are you going to do now?" I ask curiously.

Violet thinks, then looks to me with those blue, expressive eyes of hers. The sun has started to paint the sky orange in the window behind her, casting a faint orange glow on the back of her chair.

"The way I see it, you're being hunted down by an organization with a possibly brainwashed leader, who also happens to be my adoptive father, with nothing but with your powers, a car, an isolated house in the hills, and your friend who's kinda…"

"Stubborn?"

"Careless was the word I was thinking of."

"What's your point?"

She leans back, her butterfly knife appears in her hand out of nowhere, she begins twirling it in her hand, threading it in between her fingers, rolling it around her thumb.

"I think you're going to need all the help you can get." She states.

I recoil a tiny bit in surprise. "Really? You could've done anything, We could've dropped you back in a nearby town and have Mayrum come get you. And yet, you want to stick with _us_, fugitives. Why?"

She shrugs, "You think I've got a lot to lose? I've already lost 5 years of my life. I guess you can think of me helping you put a stop to this as me paying you back for freeing my mind. Plus, I know Mayrum, I know how he thinks. Despite not having the mind anymore, I was still trained to kick ass. Plus, a little girl power never hurts." She explains, grinning at the final comment.

I raise my arm to protest, but then realise that at this point she's probably made up her mind. So I raise my hands in acceptance. "Alright then. Cobalt might object, but I'm not sure anything's gonna change your mind."

She smiles, then flicks her knife closed and secures the latch. "Good. Now, what is your next move, Jackson?"

"I...got some kind of message in my head last night. That's why I couldn't sleep. It was broken up. But it was a man's voice telling me to come to him for answers...at least, that's what I was able to make out." I explain.

"Answers? On what?" She asks.

"I assume why I have my powers, why my memories are gone."

"Or it's a psychic type laying a trap for you."

"Quite possibly. But I'm willing to take that risk."

The sky is now completely orange.

"Looks like the sun's coming up." I notice. Violet turns around to see, before turning back around, "So it is." She remarks. "Do you think you can maybe siphon more from that message? Maybe a location?" She asks.

"It's not like I can replay it."

Right as I say that. The same voice repeats in my mind.

"_Ah, the sun has provided me with enough light to effectively relay this to you. Jackson Chaser, My name is Rezala Gleam. You're currently wanted by Covelight for something you didn't do. I'm sure you're seeking answers. Answers I can give. Take your friend, head to the Temple of Radiance, it's not far from your location, but it's off the beaten path, you'll have to trek through rainforest to get here. I'll expect the trek to take at least a day and a half. By now you'll have the location in your mind. I look forward to seeing you. It's time you learned the truth."_

The voice fades. I bolt downstairs to Cobalt's Intelligence Center. I pull down the paper map he has. Violet quickly follows. She's about to ask me what I'm doing but I stop her, "Hand me something." I order. Violet looks around for a bit, before handing me a phillips-head screwdriver that was on the table. I take the screwdriver and slam it through the map, to the east of our location, almost halfway between Camaro and the City of Urami. "There." I exclaim.

"I got another message literally on cue. His name is Rezala, I think he's another Chosen of light. He has the answers I need, he wants us to meet him. There." I explain, pointing at the hole I made. "He called it the Temple of Radiance, he says we'll have to hike through the rainforest to get to it."

"And you're sure this guy is legit?" Violet asks. I nod, "Positive, he started with 'the sun has provided me with enough light to effectively relay this to you.' I'm positive he's another chosen here to help me."

Suddenly, Cobalt speaks, "So then. What are we waiting for?" he asks. The two of us turn our attention. "You're not gonna object, or say anything?" I ask. "Hey, you can do things none of us can. If you say that someone telepathically told you to go somewhere and you think they're like you, I don't think I'm going to stop you from going." He explains.

Cobalt and Violet lock eyes. "What are we gonna do about HER, Jackson?" Cobalt asks, still staring at Violet. "_I~_ am coming with you." She answers. Cobalt narrows his eyes. "No. No you're not." I hold my arm out to him. "Cobalt. Cool it. We talked things out. She's on our side now. Besides, it's better she's with us than in Covelight hands where she'd give away our position." I explain. Cobalt glances between both of us. He sighs, "Fine. But I'm not letting my guard down." Cobalt finishes.

"I guess that's a start." Violet remarks. Cobalt looks to me, "Jackson, how long is this 'field trip' going to take?" he asks.

"He said that just getting to the temple will take a day and a half. Not sure how long we'll be there, I doubt more than a day. Then it's a day and a half to get back assuming we don't decide to head back to Aerocroft for whatever reason." I inform. "I'll grab the drives and bring them back to the car, along with one for food and camping supplies." Cobalt offers, "We'll be gone before Covelight wakes up for the morning." He continues. "Sounds like a plan!" I exclaim. Taking the map with me. Violet stays in the room a bit as we leave. She sighs with a small smile, "What did I just get myself into?" She quips, shaking her head before following.

**20 minutes later.**

"...Can you like, shift a little bit, my arm's cramping up." Violet complains.

One...slight complication we didn't think of until it happened was that the Kerzeo Neo just so happened to be a Two-seater...and there's three of us. So in order to actually go to the temple, Violet and I have to use our small size to share the passenger seat...unfortunately we aren't small enough and we're uncomfortably pressed into each other from the sides of the seat.

"I would if I could, Vi. We're gonna have to get used to it." I groan. Cobalt reels toward us, fuming.

"DO ONE OF YOU WANT TO BE SHOVED INTO THE TRUNK?!" he rages. We're suddenly taken aback a bit. But Violet suddenly bursts out laughing. "Alright, we'll quit it!" She giggles. Cobalt and I stare at each her for a couple seconds, still laughing, before staring at each other. I shrug. Cobalt mimics and returns to the wheel.

"I think I'm gonna nap the drive away." I announce. Cobalt nods, "Go for it, you didn't exactly sleep last night."

"Don't sleep on me." Violet growls.

"I'll try not to."

* * *

**Next: Chapter 9-1, The Path to Radiance.**

**These next few chapters are going to be much longer, and thus will take a lot longer to write, so there's no official release date for these. However, I'll make sure to complete all 3 before posting as they're all technically chapter 9, just split into 3 parts. So I'll keep you all posted.**


	11. Chapter 9: The Path to Radiance

**Okay, this chapter will be LONG. Almost twice the length of a normal chapter. Just a heads up. I know I said I'd release this when this as well as the next 2 were finished, but I decided to not do that as I don't wanna keep ya'll waiting more than I have to. With that out of the way, let's jump in!**

* * *

A sudden shove on my shoulder startles me awake. "H-huh?" I groan as I sit bolt upright and open my eyes. "We can't go any farther, even with hover." Cobalt explains. I groggily recall what's happening. "He said...that we're going to spend a day on foot." I explain.

Cobalt stops me "Right, and we're in the middle of the rainforest. It could be anywhere in this area!"

I quickly shake my head to make my eyes sharpen. Violet's currently sitting on the hood of the Neo. Staring at a holographic map projected from her PDA. I gaze around, the sun filters through the trees. The ground is absolutely covered in vegetation. Scanning the trees I can make out the edge of a small shack behind a grove of conifer trees. "Maybe there's something in that shack that can lead us to it." I suggest, pointing to said shack. Cobalt stares in the direction I'm pointing.

"What shack?"

"That shack."

"Where?"

"Behind the conifer trees."

…

"Oh wait, I see it now." He notices. I nod and open the door. I make the motions to get out of the car.

...Hm...there should be ground here.

"uwah!" I yelp as I stumble out of the car which is a lot higher off the ground than I remember. I end up face planting into the dirt.

Right. The car is hovering since we're off road.

Yeah, I should mention cars can hover about 3 feet off the ground in 2207. They're designed to automatically start hovering if they travel off of a road. Roads have small amounts of iron in the asphalt, which is then detected by a magnet on the underside of a car. If it doesn't detect the iron in the road, the wheels tuck into the body and it'll start hovering. How they DO hover...well. I don't really know. Not much of a car guy, myself. Cobalt might be able to tell you.

Now, in case you're curious. Yes, there are flying cars too, but don't expect to be able to drive one. They are INCREDIBLY expensive. They're like 2,000,000 units for a basic one. (Roughly around 1.6 million U.S. dollars)

Violet quickly snorts and looks away covering her mouth. She fails at trying to hide her laughter. I roll my eyes "Yes. I fell, Violet. Big deal." I grumble

She's given up trying to hide her hysterics, "I'm sorry! But that noise you made!" she laughs. I stand up and brush myself off, "Shut up." I whine.

"Are you two done?" Cobalt interrupts. Violet finally stops laughing and nods. "I'm done, I'm done." She repeats. I sigh and start making my way towards the shack. Violet stares in slight confusion, "Where are _you_ going?" She ponders.

"That cabin over there. Maybe there's something we can use to find the temple of Radiance...or someone who knows where it is." I explain. Continuing. Cobalt and Violet follow closely behind.

We trek through the weeds and ferns until we finally reach the shack. It's made of some type of wood that is definitely not native to this area. Looks like old Cedar, maybe. It's not exactly in the best of shapes. I don't see an entrance on this side so I loop around the side. It's on the shore of a large pond. With a short wooden dock leading out into it. It's incredibly rundown and is likely unusable. I look to the cabin again. There are short steps going up to a small deck. There rests a doorway. The door appears open. I look back to the other two. Cobalt is currently in the process of unslinging his rifle from his back. I hold my hand out to stop him, "I don't think that's necessary." I confirm, before heading up the steps slowly.

"Is someone there?" an old woman's voice echoes out. "Rezala? Is that you?"

An elderly Meganium shuffles through the door and squints at me. "Oh. You're not Rezala, I'm sorry." She apologizes. I hold my hand up, "It's okay, we're actually looking for Rezala ourselves, was hoping you'd know the way."

The Meganium uses Vine whip to adjust a pair of eyeglasses that have certainly seen better days. "Oh. I remember you. He said you'd be coming. I remember your parents too, they came looking for him too. Oh, where are my manners? I'm Serenity." She explains, before heading inside. I blink.

"My...parents?" I ask.

She comes back out with an amulet in her mouth, there's a strange glowing crystal in the center of it. It's shaped the same as that red crystal in my dream. I don't think much of it as I accept it.

"Oh yes, they were very distraught, I can't remember much about them though."

I sigh and shake my head. "Don't worry about it. Rezala said he'd tell me. Oh yeah, you know how to get to him, right?" I inquire. She motions to the amulet. "Follow the light. It'll take you to the path." She explains.

The amulet does nothing. I shift it around. I can see a ray of light come from it when I face a certain direction. I turn all the way around to see the ray of light become brighter, before turning dimmer the farther right I go.

"Huh."

I turn back around to Serenity, "Thank you, Serenity. I'll have Rezala give this back to you." I explain. She shakes her head. "Nonsense, he left it here for you." She explains. "Now go. The amulet will lead you to the path of radiance, from there it's a day's hike down the path. I would be happy to accompany you, but these joints aren't what they used to be." She explains.

I nod, "I totally understand. Again, thank you." I thank her again. I look back at the others. Cobalt's standing there looking bored. "Alright, great, you got the thing, can we get a move on now?"

I roll my eyes. "Impatient as ever." I jab. Cobalt glares at me, Violet grins at his reaction.

We say our goodbyes and head off.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

"Bring her in." Mayrum orders a guard behind him.

He finds himself sitting idle in his office. Ava stands right behind him. Ava smirks, "It's great to see you finally taking this seriously!" Mayrum doesn't react, "My daughter was last seen in Camaro locking herself in the trunk of their car. Given that I haven't heard from her. I assume they've captured her. I CANNOT AFFORD TO LET THEM STAY ON THE RUN." He explains.

The guards escort a Latias into the room. "Oof!" she grunts as one of them shoves her forward. She glares back at them. "Goddamn Legendary..." The guard mutters under his breath as he shuts the door. The Dragon's ears flatten slightly.

"Apologies Corporal." Mayrum announces to her. "Those two can be a bit rough."

The legendary sighs, "It's alright, I've dealt with way worse." She explains, before turning to her commander. Jasmine has normal Latias coloring, bright fire engine red accented with pale white, her eyes are a vibrant lilac color. Perched on top of her head are white goggles with copper colored glass and a gunmetal grey strap wrapped around her ears.

Mayrum crosses his arms, "Now. Jasmine Aileron-"

"Airheart, actually." She interrupts.

Mayrum pauses, "Using your late mother's maiden name, I see. Jasmine Airheart."

Jasmine leans forward, "Why'd you call me here? I just got done with a week-long mission, sir."

Mayrum leans over a table "Call this...overtime…"

Jasmine's ears fall back "Sir, with all due respect. I don't know if I can go into another mission so soon."

Ava speaks up, "He hasn't explained it yet, so listen up." She orders, Jasmine nervously nods.

Mayrum leans, "If my info is correct, when you were in training you had a partner. That partner was Jackson Chaser, correct?" he asks calmly. The Latias' eyes widen for a second, "T-that's correct, sir...did...did you find him?" She asks back. Mayrum nods, but stops Jasmine from speaking, "Since you were away on a mission in Aegis this past week you're out of the loop."

Jasmine, now incredibly curious leans forward.

"Jackson is a wanted criminal." He bluntly states. Jasmine recoils in shock "WHAT?! B-BUT WHY?! WHAT DID HE DO?!" She quickly stammers.

"Jackson's in possession of stolen launch codes for RMBMs and has kidnapped my daughter." Mayrum answers. The Latias stares in utter disbelief, before slowly shaking her head, "No...No...I don't believe it...He wouldn't do such a thing, I know him!" She quavers. Mayrum leans forward even more, "I'm aware. I'm also aware that you two broke rule 2 of the 'Squad Relations' section of Covelight's code. The rule where members of the same squad cannot DATE."

Jasmine turns red and sulks. "I...no excuse, sir." she whimpers. Mayrum sits back up, "It's alright, in fact that's why I called you up here." he explains. The red and white dragon slowly looks on in curiosity. "The fact that you two were dating, even if it wasn't allowed. May yet prove useful to us."

Jasmine starts to understand where this conversation is going. Mayrum continues, "He knows you, so we need you to help us lure him into a trap." Jasmine dons a look of horror. "N-no! No way! I'm not going to bait him like that! H-he might be framed! He might be trying to save us from something! We don't know enough! He's been gone since february!" She protests.

"His bounty is 1.5 Million units." Mayrum states. Jasmine stops, "...what?" she asks.

"If you help us catch him, you'll be paid double that. 3 MILLION UNITS. If I remember correctly, your father is suffering from a terminal illness. 3 million can easily help you support him." Mayrum coaxes. Jasmine hesitates for a bit, before wincing and shaking her head. "N-no! I...I can't do that...even if it is tempting…"

Ava rolls her eyes and sighs, "Looks like you're not listening to us." She states, making the Legendary open her eyes to look at Ava. "Huh?" She questions. Ava's eyes glow a vicious scarlet. "WE AREN'T ASKING."

Jasmine suddenly screams in agony, clutching her head. "N-NO! I WON'T-…!" She screams, before going quiet. Images of her father passing flash in her mind, she sees herself by his side, guilty that she couldn't do anything about it on her salary. The vision fades, she lowers her claws. Revealing her pupils to be glowing scarlet for a second, before turning to normal.

"I...I'll do it..." She says reluctantly.

Ava smiles, "I thought so. Now get to Camaro and start looking for clues as to where they are and where they might go next."

Jasmine nods and slowly turns around

"A Snivy and a Latias?" Mayrum questions. "An….interesting couple, to say the least."

Jasmine pauses before leaving the room. She looks back, tears starting to fill her eyes.

"We're both thrillseekers…" She says, before exiting the room.

* * *

_**Back to our heroes.**_

We've been walking for about an hour. We had to ditch the car much to Cobalt's dismay. We're now carrying drives with Backpacks. Or rather, Cobalt is carrying them in one backpack as they're too heavy for me and Violet. Cobalt is alright though, the drives are 6 pounds each, there are 4, so he's only got 24 pounds of weight. He's also got his Rifle slung onto his back on top of that, however. So an 11 pound sniper rifle plus 24 pounds of hard drives. 35 pounds, kinda uncomfortable, but manageable.

I've been tasked with making sure we're heading the right way. There's a VERY makeshift path, but it looks like it hasn't been used in years.

Despite the calm scenery and pleasant sound of the wind through the trees, It's actually kinda boring. Wild Pokemon (Wild Beta Pokemon who've found their way back to Celatia) are incredibly scarce here. So it's not like there's things in the woods that are going about their day. I look back at Cobalt. "Hey Cobalt." I grab his attention. He suddenly breaks from zoning out to look at me. "Yeah?" he inquires. "You say you've known me for a while. Do you have any fun memories of stuff you and I did?" I prod. Violet seems intrigued as well. Cobalt looks down, thinking, before chuckling. "Alright, I got one." He laughs.

"So back in School, we'd hang out with these guys, Tomas, an Espeon, Tony, a Riolu, Scott, Leafeon and Aiden, an Electabuzz. Tomas was a bit older than us, we were Juniors, he had graduated, but he was Scott's brother, so he hung out with us sometimes. I remember we were going out to see a concert, don't remember who we were seeing, but anyway. We're all riding in the back of the van Aiden's dad used, he was an electrician. Tomas had brought these MIDI magazines, MIDI being one of the earliest ways to produce Electronic Music with a computer, said he thought we'd find it interesting. So he passed them around, It went to me, then Scott, then you, and we'd look at the magazines for about 5 seconds, Tomas was talking for a bit to Aiden. The magazines then make their way into Tony's hands. He takes a couple glances, Tomas's not looking, so we all watch as Tony opens the back of the van and THROWS THEM OUT OF THE BACK." He describes. Violet and I chuckle.

"OH BUT I'M NOT DONE!" Cobalt shouts.

"TOMAS TURNS BACK AROUND, NOTICES THAT WE'RE LAUGHING AND GOES, 'What's so funny?' Then I reply and tell him that Tony threw them his magazines out of the back, and Tomas gets all frustrated. Aiden's wondering what's going on and asks, 'What were the magazines on?' then you said 'I dunno, something about MIDI.' Aiden's confused and asks what MIDI is, and then TONY. TONY. Tony turns around, shuts the door and says, 'I think it stands for **M**agazines **I**n **D**a' **I**ntersection!"'

All three of us suddenly burst into laughter. "No way! You made that up!" Violet shouts, hysterical. Cobalt is able to stop long enough to reply "I swear, on my life, that's exactly what happened. Tony was a comedic genius. That motherfucker had wit. Could take any situation and make a joke out of it."

"What happened to him?" I asked. Cobalt sighed, "You and I were the only ones to go into the military. Everyone else has gone to pursue more education. I haven't talked with them in a while." he explains.

"I think now would be a good place to stop for a little." I mention, noticing that we're reaching a small clearing. We all sit down for a bit. Violet spawns a bottle of water from her PDA and tosses it to Cobalt, who's about to spawn one of his own. "Oh. T-thanks." he thanks. He takes the one he just spawned and hands it to me. I look over, Violet's practically chugging hers, she gets about halfway, before stopping, slightly panting. "Fuck, I needed that." she sighs. I look to see Cobalt finishing his as well. "Yeah." he agrees. I look down at mine. I don't feel particularly thirsty...buuut I think it's better to be safe than sorry. I drink about a third of mine and decide to carry it the rest of the way, sip on it if I need to. We rest for a bit longer before continuing.

A couple hours later, we spot a large structure blocking our path carved into a mountain. "Hey, up ahead." I spot. The other two notice. "What? We've only been walking for...what? 6 hours? That can't be right, we're supposed to reach the temple in a day and a half's time." Cobalt notices. I notice the sun's starting to set. "Well, the sun's setting, maybe this is some kind of...halfway point?" Violet replies. I turn away from it, the light from the pendant fades. I turn toward it to see it light up again. "The pendant says that's the way to go." I call. "Well, let's check it out." Violet suggests.

The structure is made of sandstone, with large pillars holding up the roof. It's a lot shallower than I thought, It's a small cutout into this mountain. I notice a small totem near the back of the structure. Violet then points at the wall behind the totem, "Look. There's unown writing carved into the walls." Violet explains. I take a close look at the writing, then read aloud.

"Beyond this gate is the Path to Radiance. If thou hath been chosen, thou will have the key to pass." I read. "You can read Unown?" Violet asks. I look back "Unown letters are just slightly different from the Latin alphabet. So anyone can read it if they look at it hard enough." I explain.

"Gate...key…" Cobalt questions. He notices the totem. "Wait! The pendant!" He exclaims. "I think it might fit into that totem!" I look at the totem and approach it. Sure enough, I notice a small slot just big enough for the pendant. I take the pendant off from around my neck and slip it into the slot. It glows immensely, before the glass of the outside of the pendant shatters. The ground begins to shake. "YUP! I THINK THAT DID SOMETHING!" I shout over the noise.

The wall behind the totem slides upwards slowly. The pendant is then ejected out of the totem, without the outside piece, leaving only the chain and the glowing crystal that was once in it's center. The wall reveals a small tunnel with light at the end of it. The wall suddenly changes direction, insead now slowly coming back down. "We might want to go through before it closes!" Cobalt shouts, sprinting into the tunnel. Violet and I follow, I pick up the pendant on my way in as the wall slams down behind me. We turn back to the light and walk into it, revealing a large clearing with a cobblestone path ahead. "Are you fucking kidding me?" Violet curses. "We did all of that walking just to do more walking?!" She fumes. I step into the clearing. "No. You're right, Violet. This IS the halfway point. I think the idea is that this is a place to camp out for the night before continuing in the morning." I explain, before I suddenly spot something in the distance. A small, thin beam of light stretching into the sky. "And I think, THAT LIGHT IS where we're going." I point. The other two notice the beam stretching into the sky. Cobalt sighs, "Yeah, I think now would be a good time to set up camp anyway." he groans, Finally setting down the backpack. Violet calms down for a bit then helps out. I too help out.

…

It's now night time. All 3 of us are now laying in sleeping bags around a warm fire. Staring up at the stars. It's been quiet so far. Violet breaks the silence. "I don't think I've ever seen this many stars before…" Violet sighs. "Really?" I ask, looking to her. She nods. "I've lived in the city my entire life. The night sky has always been washed out by the lights of the city, I'm only able to see the brightest stars." She explains. "Really makes you think, huh?" Cobalt joins. "We're on a small blue marble in an infinitely huge universe, and there are others probably looking up at their skies, wondering about what's happening down here." Cobalt continues. I nod, "Have any of you guys thought about going offworld someday?" I ask. Violet shakes her head, "N-no. I'm not the best with heights." she chuckles nervously.

"Heard Venus is nice this time of year." Cobalt notes. "Doesn't venus rain acid 24/7?" Violet asks. Cobalt shrugs, "It does, but most colonies on Venus are above the clouds. Some are underground." he explains. "I don't think I'd wanna live underground, thanks." I remark. "Me neither." Violet adds. Cobalt shrugs, "Mars is pretty alright year round, though."

"Gods, you remember the mess that planet was in before it was terraformed?" Violet remarks. "Yeah, wasn't it not dense enough to hold an atmosphere?" I ask. She nods. "Yeah, I remember we had to throw both Phobos and Deimos into it just to get enough iron into it." she explains. "Now look at it." Cobalt remarks. I notice a bright star with a red tint to it. "Yeah, I see it, rriiiiight there." I note, pointing at said red planet. It takes them a minute, but they spot it too.

"But yeah, not really." Cobalt continues, "I've got all I'd ever want right here. There's still so much about earth we still have yet to discover. The people offworld all fled when people thought that the earth would heat up so much that the oceans would rise and we'd all die." He explains. "Good thing THAT crisis was averted long ago, like 2104, right?" Violet remarks. We nod. "Yeah I feel ya, Cobalt, I'm happy right here. I mean, I'd like to visit another planet someday, but not for a while at least." I add.

Violet shifts onto her side. "Alright, well I'm gonna go to sleep. You all should too."

"Alright Vi." I reply. I notice Cobalt kinda antsy.

"Cobalt, for fuck's sake." I groan.

"If I wanted to kill you both, I would've done so by now." Violet notes, before shutting her eyes again.

Cobalt calms down a little bit...but only a little bit. I guess it's a start. I roll onto my side as well, facing Violet. I notice that the pendant is still around my neck and the crystal is digging into my side. I remove it from myself, then I notice the crystal itself.

It looks very similar to the one I saw in my dream. Actually, it's practically identical, only this one is white instead of red. I wonder if they're connected but I'm sure Rezala can explain it to me. Curious, I try to squeeze the crystal, as I remember touching the red one and having a surge of fear resonate through my body. Nothing, I squeeze harder. Suddenly I feel light surge throughout my body. My markings suddenly glow to an almost blinding amount. "Ah!" I grunt in surprise as I drop the crystal. My body returns to normal. Violet opens her eyes to check on me.

"Sorry, forgot to take it off and it dug into my side." I chuckle nervously. Violet rolls her eyes and tries to go back to sleep.

I decide that I should do the same. I tune my ears to the relaxing sound of the fire and shut my eyes.

* * *

**_Meanwhile._**

Jasmine arrives at Cobalt's family lodge just outside camaro. She cases the property to make sure someone isn't there before using Psychic to unlock the door. She slips her way in quietly, before checking every room upstairs. Heading downstairs, she notices the paper map still pulled down with the hole poked through it. She spots the rest of the equipment on the table below it. She accesses the computer and notices the "Security system." on the terminal, where she finds the backups of the security footage. She clicks play on the last detected motion in that very room.

Jackson darts downstairs and pulls down the map, another Snivy, assumed to be Mayrum's daughter, follows right behind. "Hand me something." Jackson speaks. Violet hands him a screwdriver which he then pierces the map with. Jasmine glances at the hole in the map. "There." he says, pointing to it. "He called it the Temple of Radiance, he says we'll have to hike through the rainforest to get to it." Jackson explains. Jasmine glances at the time of the recording.

This morning.

She takes a picture of the map with her PDA and then calls Mayrum.

"This is Airheart."

"Corporal, do you have the target's hideout?"

"Yes, however they've left for something called the Temple of Radiance. I know where it is, I'll check it out tomorrow morning."

"Good work, Corporal. Over and out."

* * *

**_The next morning._**

We moved out at sunrise.

We've been walking for around 4 hours, the forest has gotten super thick and the stone path slowly turned to a dirt path. Despite not having to guide anymore, I remain at the front. Slowly, but surely we notice the beam of light getting closer and closer.

Finally I spot a break in the trees up ahead. "Looks like we're about to get a view." I announce to the very bored group behind me. Cobalt rolls his shoulder a bit, "Good. Hopefully it won't be too long now." He sighs. I step out of the treeline, we're walking along a high ridge with a view into the valley. I reach the corner of the ridge when I see it.

Poking out through a gap in the trees- is the resembles Ancient Mayan architecture, with the bricks a crisp white, with the tops of each segment a vibrant gold. There's a beam of clean white light shooting up into the sky from the middle of the temple. The temple is close, about a mile and a half away. "I SEE IT!" I shout, causing the others to quickly see for themselves. Cobalt throws his hands up, "Yes! Not much more walking!" he cheers. I chuckle slightly, "Well, better not wait any longer." Violet continues, I nod in response. Violet leads this time. We walk around the corner, with my eyes affixed to the building/

Suddenly Violet darts her head to above the ridge, looking at the ridge. "What's up, Violet?" Cobalt asks, prompting me to glance away from the temple. "I heard a gust of air come from the trees, like a whooshing noise." She explains, staring for a bit. "Might just be the wind starting for the day, though." she shrugs. We shrug with her and continue on, failing to notice the red and white dragon watching us from the trees.

Half an hour later we finally make it to a massive archway, large 15 foot walls outstretching from either side. Beyond the arch, the temple. The beam into the sky fades. I look back at the others, who nod.

I take a deep breath and step through the arch. The gem around my neck suddenly flies out of the pendant, slowly floating up the stairs, I follow the crystal up the stairs. The other two stick by my side, curious.

Finally we reach the top. The crystal floats into a chamber, where it then floats into the hands of an Azelf, meditating in the middle of the room. He smiles upon grasping the crystal, before looking to me.

"Good to see you got my message, Jackson Alexander Chaser. Welcome to the Temple of Radiance." He explains. The Azelf has bright orange eyes with white lines circling his irises. Markings similar to mine line his body. "You're Rezala?" I ask. He nods "That's correct. Rezala Gleam at your service."

He notices Cobalt and Violet behind me, "Ah...I was not made aware you had acquired a third companion. Welcome Mr. Ducati and Ms. Halsey." He introduces. Violet's eyes widen, "H-Halsey?" she exclaims. Cobalt steps back a bit. "Okay when and how?" Cobalt stammers. Rezala laughs, "I know the identity of everyone who steps through that gate." he explains. "It's my job, as guardian of the Radiance Crystal. He continues, placing the crystal into a slot. It suddenly hits me, I gaze around the room. This room looks identical to the one I saw in my dream! Even down to the crystal in a pilliar.

"Rezala, you said you had answers for me." I cut to the chase. He nods, "You're probably wondering why you're chosen, and why Covelight is hunting you."

"That's why I'm here."

Rezala motions us to come inside the room. We do, the door closes. "Okay. As a psychic type, I have the power to view forgotten memories, and after turning you Chosen. I've been able to create a rough estimate of the events leading up to you turning Chosen. But Long story short, this is all the work of the most recent possessor of the Mind Crystal, Ava Nocturne." He explains. That name sends chills down my spine.

"Allow me to show you, all of you, the truth." He explains, before his eyes start glowing. I begin to feel faint, as do Cobalt and Violet.

We all hit the ground as my vision goes white…

**NEXT: CHAPTER 0: THE INCIDENT.**

**COMING SOON.**

**Whoo boy, that one was a doozy. I just wanna clarify that the Magazines In Da Intersection story was NOT made up. The only things I made up about that story was the fake names. Anyway, the next chapter is gonna answer all of the answers we've been looking for, before we finally move onto the final act. I cannot wait! Yes, I realize that it's a bit extreme that Jackson was dating a LATIAS of all things, but don't worry. I AM going somewhere with that, you'll just have to wait and see~! (Jasmine will play a big role in the Sequel)**

**Elysium over and out! **


	12. Chapter 0: Prologue - The Incident

"_**I'm afraid it's impossible for your memory to fully recover. However, I can give you what little I know about how you became who you are. If I remember correctly, you stole the Mind Crystal right before all of this happened. Here's what followed immediately after..."**_

Ava stands inside the chamber of the Temple of Madness, two of her associates stand right behind her. A pair of Obstagoon. They stare down the Temple's guardian, a Mesprit.

"I'm gonna give you one last chance, where's the crystal?" Ava shouts at the poor mesprit, beaten and worn. "I already told you...someone stole it when I wasn't looking...I don't know where it is! Honestly, I don't know!" Mesprit cries in response. Ava sighs, "I was given specific orders to retrieve the Crystal for my boss. You're going to tell me where it is!" She growls as she slams her paw into Mesprit's throat. "...I've told you...everything…" She chokes. Ava grits her teeth, "Fucking useless. Thrax, Sai. Knock her out, She's not worth the effort."

The two obstagoon chuckle. "With pleasure!" Thrax announces.

Ava steps outside and pulls out her PDA. Swiping through her contacts, she finally dials in.

"Ava. How goes the Mission?"

"Not good Reyes, The Guardian says the crystal was stolen this morning, she's being silenced as we speak."

"Clearly you didn't get there soon enough, Ava. You fucking moron! INITIATE THE SCAN! GET ME THAT CRYSTAL OR IT'S YOUR ASS!"

Ava hesitates before speaking "Y-yes sir."

"Dismissed."

The call ends. Ava bares her teeth, "…I'm not ready for this." she mutters under her breath. She steels herself, then pulls up a new Page on the PDA, hitting a button. "They can't be far."

A blip appears on the map. "Altera…" Ava notices.

The two henchmen exit the temple. Ava looks back at them, "The Crystal is in Altera. We're moving, radio the chopper for evac." She orders.

_Meanwhile._

"Callum, I really don't have a good feeling about this." I sigh. Trudging along behind my brother as we start reaching the end of the hiking trail. "Aren't you training for Covelight? Don't be such a pussy." Callum jabs, I glare. "Okay, but we don't know what that is, we don't know what it does, for all we know we might've just picked up some kinda superweapon! Or maybe it turns things into monsters, we don't know Callum!" I shout. He rolls his eyes as we walk onto the Parking lot. "I think touching that thing's made you paranoid." he grunts. He throws his backpack into the trunk of his hatchback. He opens the door, "If it's cursed or something...we'll just put it back, we know where we found it." he explains. I shake my head but get in the passenger side.

"I don't think that's how cursed objects work…"

_Time Skips_

Callum and I find ourselves back at our home in Aerocroft. Our parents are still out at work, so we're currently alone in the house. Callum carefully extracts the water bottle from my backpack in the middle of my bedroom, he's on my desk chair while I'm sat on my bed.

The room is on the small size, being 9 feet in length by 13 feet in width.

"Alright, now how are we gonna remove it from the container? It shocked me when I touched it." I ask, leaning forward, staring at the glowing red rock floating in the center of the bottle. Callum thinks for a bit, "Tongs, maybe. Do we have any?" he replies, I shake my head "Not that I know of."

Callum looks away for a bit, "Drat. I'm gonna go pick some up from the Hardware store, I'll be as quick as I can." He explains, shoving the bottle back into the bag and hanging it up on my doorknob. "Please hurry, I've still got a bad feeling about all this." I admit.

Not 5 minutes after he leaves, I get a knock on the door. Cautiously, I get off of my bed and make my way to the front door. I hesitate for a bit, "Fuuuuuuck!" I whisper to myself, shaking my head. I steel myself and then power up a leaf blade and open the door slowly. I see a perfectly normal Umbreon standing in front of me, looking bored, she's got some kind of harness on her, though I can't really tell what it's for. Other than that, she's pretty normal. Yellow rings, red eyes. She notices the door open. Looking a bit more at her, she seems around my age, maybe even a little younger.

She greets me with a smile, "Hi! Sorry to bother you. I'm Ava, sooo... I was playing ball with some of my younger cousins and we accidentally kicked it over your fence and I was wondering if I could just go back there and grab it real quick."

I know I need to be on my guard and that I shouldn't let this person in. But the way she spoke and the carefree vibes I'm getting are just too...authentic. I figure it's best to be safe rather than sorry, so I decide to try and test her. "Oh...Well it's no big deal, I've done the same thing before when I was younger. I'll go check the backyard and I'll bring it back if I find it." I offer, I notice her expression slightly sharpen, "No! No! Don't trouble yourself, I kicked the ball over, I'll retrieve it." She retorts. I narrow my eyes at this and press further, "What? am I not allowed to do a nice thing for my neighbor? I'll just go get it, won't take but a moment."

Ava narrows her eyes back "I Insist."

Okay, the jig is up. I know what she's trying to do.

"I know why you're here." I announce.

The Umbreon looks at me dejectedly, "Not doin' it for ya?" She asks, before sighing. "Fuck it. THRAX!" She shouts. Causing the door to be kicked open by an obstagoon, knocking me onto the ground. Said Obstagoon grabs me by the shoulders, pinning my arms to my sides with his fingers. He pins me against the wall next to the hallway. I grunt in response, "Augh! Come on man, you're gonna break the damn door!" I joke. The Obstagoon growls in response. Ava marches into my house, examining every wall of the living room and dining room. "Mmm...Cozy little condo you got here…" She comments, before staring directly at me. "Now, I want you to tell me where the Crystal is or I'm gonna have Thrax here peel your dick like a banana!" She threatened coldly. Causing both me and Thrax to turn our gaze and stare in confusion.

"...excuse me?" I ask, slightly chuckling.

"You're gonna make me do what?" Thrax stammers, taken aback by that comment.

Ava closes her eyes angrily and lets out an incredibly loud sigh, before matching our gazes, "As you might be able to tell, I'M NOT GOOD AT THIS PART OF THE JOB! SO IF YOU COULD TELL ME WHERE IT IS I'D VERY MUCH APPRECIATE THAT!" She yells. "Okay! Okay! Okay! Calm down femme fatale, I'll tell you, but only if you tell me what it even is and why you want it!" I reply.

Ava breathes a sigh of relief, "Okay, this I can work with, thank you for not wasting my time." She thanks, before starting

"That crystal has the power to give those it chooses the power to control...some aspect of reality, we don't really know yet, there are others of it's kind that control other aspects of reality. MY BOSS wants the crystal so that he can take down the Nightbring Clan and the Covelight and restore his status of old. I WANT IT so that I don't get thrown out and become homeless because I couldn't find a stupid fucking rock." She explains.

"Okay...so...you want it so that you can take over the world?" I ask to clarify. "I never said that." She explains. I rock my head in confliction, "Okay, It's in a water bottle in my backpack, in there, on the doorknob." I explain. Ava smiles, "Much appreciated, Leafy." She chirps. She rummages through my bag and pulls out the bottle, slightly entranced by the crystal inside. Thrax is also staring curiously.

_Now's my chance!_

I power up a leaf blade and swing my tail to hit the Obstagoon's face, causing him to cry out in pain and drop me to the ground. In a last ditch effort I fire an energy ball at Ava, she panics and throws the bottle in the way of the shot, causing the bottle to shatter upon impact. I watch in slow motion as the crystal inside seems to get magnetised to the harness on her chest.

_Oh that can't be good..._

The crystal clicks into the harness in her chest, she suddenly screams in agony as a red light suddenly fills the house. I have to shut my eyes to prevent myself from being blinded, I can tell Thrax is so incredibly disoriented that he falls to the ground. I can feel pure terror emanating from the source of the light. Before just like that, the light fades. I rush into the room to see my walls, my furniture, my entire bedroom torn apart and torched. In the middle of the room I see Ava, her rings have disappeared and she's sparkling with red electricity. I look on in utter disbelief as her rings return, but they return with scarlet coloring and rather than being oval shaped, they instead feature a more angular appearance, resembling rhombuses. Her eyes snap open, and her normally black pupil has been changed to scarlet like her rings. Two white slashes cut from her sclera to her iris. Both keeping the same dark red color as before. She slowly sits up, gradually taking a look at herself, I can't move, I'm petrified just being in her presence. "Oh...I know what this crystal controls now…" She explains, her voice has changed from a cute but witty tone to a much more seductive sound. "We thought that this controlled Darkness, the Abyss crystal it was called." She explains. "But now I see, this is the Madness crystal. The crystal that controls the mind, and more importantly, FEAR."

She smiles seductively as she starts circling me, Her entire demeanor has completely changed. "Do you know how good~ this feels?!" She exclaims, "I almost don't want to give this to the boss. I feel it, the power to do anything, manipulate anyone." she exclaims, I'm still frozen in fear. She grins and moves over to my face, staring me right in the eyes.

"You know what? Fuck the boss. He can't even dream of experiencing this. I think...instead of giving this crystal so that he can retake Celatia, I think _I _ will take Celatia instead. Oh I just can't wait to see what I can do to people...Oh. You know what?"

She chuckles, "I think you'll make the perfect test subject, Leafy."

"Y...You motherfucker." I grunt.

"Oh? What was that?"

"Y...you don't know...what you're doing!" I growl.

She breaks into hysterical laughter, "You think you can stop me!?"

Her body starts emanating a red Aura, "I'd really like to see you try! Aw, but you know, you're pretty cute when you're scared stiff." She chuckles, before kissing me, causing the energy to surge through me, I suddenly cry out in pain before I collapse, my expression turning blank. Ava smiles. "Oh...and just for good measure, just in case you somehow manage to break out of this. I'll make sure you forgot you ever saw me, she explains, pumping red energy into her paw and tapping my forehead. The shock ripples through my mind. I forget everything. She grins, "Don't come back." She orders, before leaving.

My vision turns black as I stop thinking. From now on, I can only hear.

…

_Two minutes later_

"Jackson?"

"JACKSON!"

"OH MY GODS, J?! WHERE'S THE CRYSTAL? J? WHY AREN'T YOU ANSWERING ME!?"

"JACKSON?! COME ON BUDDY, THIS ISN'T FUNNY!"

…

"Callum what's all this shouting about?"

"Mom? MOM! OH THANK GODS YOU'RE HERE! Jackson needs to go to the hospital!"

"What? WHAT HAPPENED?!"

"I DON'T KNOW, WE GOT BACK FROM OUR HIKE! I LEFT FOR A BIT, THEN I CAME BACK AND HE WAS LIKE THIS!"

"Oh...Oh no no no no no…"

…

"He still has a pulse, he's still very alive, but...he's not responding to anything…"

"Callum, call Xander, please. I'm gonna call an ambulance."

"O...ok…._FUCK!"_

…

_Time skips yet again._

I hear an unfamiliar female voice call out.

"Scarlet Chaser?"

Scarlet….so that's my mother's name...then again, I remember back at the hospital that Nidoqueen mentioned the names of my family.

But, damn it! Why can't I at least see what she looks like?!

"Y-yes?" my mother's voice replies.

"Jackson here is...an interesting case. We know what he has, Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome, but the thing we don't understand is what could've caused it. As there's only one known way for this to occur is for a traumatic brain injury. However we've done test after test and found at most evidence of a mild concussion, though we've determined that this had occurred months prior." the doctor explains.

"That's when Jackson crashed a gyrocopter, I think. I believe doctor Pixy was the one who treated him then." my mother clarifies, Huh...Cobalt wasn't kidding.

"I see...we'll try to get in touch with her. I'm sorry miss, there's nothing we can do for your son." The doctor responds

I can hear sobbing coming from my mother

"I…..I understand. I'll let his brother know" _She quakes, before I hear her walk away in tears._

A few minutes pass before I hear Callum's voice.

"Jackson. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have left you. That crystal, it came from that temple, right? If I go back to it, I may be able to find a way to undo this...I'm also gonna tell Mom and Dad about the crystal….They deserve to know the truth, too...Love ya, bro. I'll be back as soon as I can" he finishes, before I too hear him walk away.

Suddenly my vision changes, I'm able to see again, however I'm no longer in my own body it seems, as I seem to be looking in at Callum rushing up the stairs of that temple we found in the forest. I look to my left and to my right and spot Cobalt and Violet standing beside me, both wearing a look of total disbelief. "W-wait, you're seeing this too?" I ask the both of them, causing them to suddenly realise that we're all viewing this together. "Seems like it…" Cobalt mutters, trying to take in absolutely everything."It all makes sense, Ava stole the crystal from you and used her newfound powers to manipulate Mayrum into bending to her will!" Violet exclaims, causing me to recoil. "And when she found out I was alive in the hospital, she sent Mayrum after me so she could finish me off." I realise.

"_**Ah, it seems you've pieced it all together, however, we're not done yet.**_" Rezala's voice echoes. We continue observing.

The temple's red accents have darkened in color, signifying that the crystal is missing I assume. Callum wanders into the chamber where we found the crystal. He gazes around the room, before a beat up looking mesprit comes up from behind him.

"You there." The mesprit speaks with an elderly, gravely voice, grabbing Callum's attention, "Eh?" he jolts in slight surprise.

"This is no place for outsiders! Leave. Now." She orders. Callum holds up his hand, "No, I'm here for a reason." he responds, causing the mesprit to sneer in disgust. "The last that were here came around looking for the crystal, too. As you can see though, it's already gone, so leave this place!" She orders yet again. Callum steels himself.

"I know...I'm the one who stole it." Callum admits, causing the Mesprit to recoil in shock. "You...YOU FIEND!" she screams in his face, Callum winces a little bit, "Calm down, I've got a bit of a problem here!" he explains. "Yes, I think we've got a problem, mister!" she snaps back.

"Listen, my brother and I were out on a hike when my compass started acting up, we followed it and wound up here. I saw the crystal and I dunno why, I just wanted to take it! So we did, my brother was smart, he didn't want to take it with us. But anyway, we got back and were going to get a better look, but we didn't have any tongs so I left to get some, but when I came back, my brother...he's...awake, but he's unresponsive, and the crystal had disappeared! I came here for help!" he explains. The Mesprit's demeanor changes from absolutely livid, to a more serious tone.

"I know exactly what it is." She explains, Callum appears elated. "That crystal is called the Madness crystal. Created by Elegy, goddess of the mind. The madness crystal can turn individuals into Chosen of Fear. Allowing them to alter the fear in a person's soul." She explains. Callum goes wide-eyed, "So...what you're saying, is that he's become one of these….'Chosen?'" he asks, the Mesprit shakes her head. "No, but a fear chosen is responsible for this. It's the ability called Thanatophobia, the fear of death."

"...can you…?"

"No, not without the Crystal itself being present. Judging by the situation, the ones who arrived just after you left followed you to your home, one of them was then able to use the crystal before they left so they could afflict him with Thanatophobia."

"So what are we supposed to do? How do we fix this?"

"There is...another way, though I'm not entirely sure it will work."

"So then tell me!"

"I can't fix your brother, but I know someone who might. His name is Rezala Gleam. I'm not on the best standings with him...but he has a good heart."

"He can fix this?"

"Theoretically. He resides in the rainforests between Camaro and the City of Urami. Let me borrow your cell phone." She orders.

"My what?"

"Did...did they replace Cell Phones?"

"I think so, ma'am, we have these now." He explains, pulling up his PDA.

"...It's pretty much just the same thing but floating, okay give it here."

Callum swipes his hand, causing the screen to spin around.

She fiddles with a map for a moment, "How do I place a marker?" she asks

"Double tap."

"Thanks...Okay, head to these Coordinates, there should be a shack with a meganium named Serenity, she'll tell you how to find him. I'll let him know you're coming."

"Thank you so much. When all this is said and done I'll try my best to bring the crystal back."

"I sure hope so."

_Again. Time skips ahead, now it shows my entire family carrying my limp body in through the gate of the temple of radiance, the necklace around my mother's neck. Finally, I can see her!_

My mother, Scarlet is a Serperior with the same red eyes as my brother. She appears slightly brighter than a normal Serperior...is she...Shiny? Must be. Small glasses rest on her snout.

My father, Xander is currently holding me. He, also a Serperior, features the golden eyes that I share, and the slightly darker shade of green that my brother has. He wears a cap bearing some kind of military emblem, not Covelight, Robber Force maybe? Then there's Callum, who's taken the darker skin tone from my father and the red eyes from my mother.

"Ventri told me you all would come, come inside, let's have a look at him." Rezala's voice echoes, leading me to believe I'm viewing this through Rezala's perspective.

Rezala heads inside and flicks a stone lever, causing a marble...I wanna say an altar? It looks more like a fancy table, but I can clearly tell that this has a purpose. Anyway, it comes up through the floor, he looks to his left to see everyone heading in, "Rezala Gleam is my name, I guard the temple of Radiance, lay him there." Rezala orders. Xander obeys. "Y-you can fix him, right?" Scarlet asks. "I'll have to get a look at him first, see what exactly he's been affected with." Rezala explains.

"I remember Ventri saying something like 'Thanatophobia.' or something like that." Callum explains.

"...hm..yes, that would appear to be so, however I'm detecting something...else." Rezala replies, feeling the top of my head.

"Oh dear. This is bad news…"

"Do you know what's affecting him?" Xander ponders

"Yes...unfortunately you're not going to like it." Rezala answers

"Cut to the chase, can you fix him?" Callum presses

"I can...however..." Rezala explains, looking nervous.

"Know that your son will not be the same Jackson you remember." Rezala continues

"Not just Thanatophobia, but Anthazagoraphobia." Rezala explains

"Athazagoraphobia is not to be taken lightly, especially given that he's also been afflicted with Thanatophobia as well…"

"...what does that mean?" Scarlet asks worriedly

"He's trapped in some sort of waking death, and his memories are gone." Rezala continues. "Even if he breaks out of this, he'll remember nothing, only tiny bits and pieces."

"Oh no, Jackson…" Scarlet sighs, pressing herself into Xander.

"You said you can fix this though!" Callum states.

"The Thanatophobia, yes. The Athazagoraphobia will have to be amended through time, I'm afraid." Rezala answers.

Callum sighs, "Okay, one thing at a time, how to we fix him?"

Rezala takes the pendant from Scarlet and takes the crystal out of the pendant. "This is purely theoretical, but this was a curse afflicted by a Chosen of fear. If we give him an ability of his own it should drive ou-"

Callum goes wide eyed "Then it'll drive out the Fear!"

Rezala nods, "Exactly, I'm going to perform the ritual."

Xander narrows his eyes, "Ritual? You're going to perform a ritual? Callum, you haven't roped us into something demonic have you?"

Rezala chuckles, "Oh no no no, quite the opposite, I'm going to speak directly to Arceus himself and ask for permission to create a new Chosen."

Xander scoffs a little, "Alright, whatever you say buddy." he remarks, before he gets elbowed by Scarlet. "If there's a chance it'll bring our son back, then do it. Whatever it takes."

Rezala nods, then takes the crystal and places it in a ring at the bottom of the altar/table thing. He then places my arms into a couple of receptacles, before pulling a dagger out of a slot in the altar. My family tries to interject, but Rezala cuts them off, "I'm only gonna cut his wrists, if Arceus allows this procedure, the wounds will revert to before I cut them." Rezala explains, slicing the bottom of my wrist open, blood starts pouring from my wound, My mother gags and looks away.

Rezala's eyes start glowing, his voice fills the room.

"_O great Arceus, son of the three Divines. This one has been afflicted with a great evil. O Arceus, grant this one the strength of the Radiance and the power to purge this evil from your majestic creation!"_

My blood flows through a series of canals flowing to the ring holding the crystal.

"_O Arceus, heed my call!"_

My blood touches the ring and the crystal suddenly glows with a blinding light. My family has to shield their eyes

"Arceus has accepted this procedure!" Rezala exclaims.

The glow of the crystal fades, instead my blood starts to turn white, glowing in the process, it starts traveling up the canals, where it touches my wound. I start crying out in agony as white energy starts crackling around my body. My new Chosen essence fills up most of my wound, before the rest of it starts spreading itself out over my body. I slam my eyes shut for a moment, before I reopen them, now with a blue slash on my irises, light then fills my pupils, causing them to glow with a white light. The extra essence that didn't fill my wound then takes the shape of the markings that dot my body. Before finally, the energy fades. My eyes roll back before I fall unconscious.

"It's done. Jackson is now a Chosen of Light." Rezala explains. My family gazes in awe for a second, Callum's the first to approach me, examining my new markings. He shakes my body, "J-Jackson?" he asks. Rezala sighs.

"He'll wake up in 10 hours, however. I have to admit to something…" Rezala explains, causing Scarlet to look on in worry. "W-what?" She asks.

"The only reason I was able to get Arceus to agree to this procedure is that Jackson will be the one to get the Madness Crystal back into the hands of Ventri. Jackson is now destined to confront the one responsible for this, whom I've been informed by Ventri is Ava Nocturne. Jackson cannot deviate from this destiny. Ava will know it too, She'll likely try to make a move on all of you to get to him. I need to send you somewhere safe, somewhere away from Jackson, away from danger."

My family suddenly shares a look of collective shock, "You mean, we have to leave him here? We won't get to see him again? Where are you going to send us?" My mother stammers, tears filling her eyes.

Rezala thinks for a moment, "Celatia isn't safe for any of you, I'm going to send you all to a contact I have in Nocturnia."

"Nocturnia? But that's on the opposite side of the world." Xander notes.

"Exactly why it's the safest place for you. You will see Jackson again, but for now. Absolutely nothing should get between him and Ava. When he succeeds in his duty, you will be able to see him again, and with any luck. He'll find you." Rezala continues, before he opens up a portal, "Right, don't dawdle, Ava's likely sensed that a Chosen has been sent after her."

My family says their goodbyes and exits through the portal. Rezala sighs and presses his hand against my forehead, a wave of energy ripples through my body, before I vanish and land on a hiking trail near Aerocroft.

And it all comes full circle…

* * *

**NEXT: CHAPTER 10, PREPARATIONS**

**Whoooo boy that one was a doozy, and there's the massive exposition dump leading to the coming climax. I'm so excited, but for now. I think it's time Jackson unlocks the rest of his arsenal, he's going to need it!**

**This is Elysium over and out!**


	13. Chapter 10: Preparations

**Noticed Covelight was added to a community recently. Thought it might be one of them 'these stories are breaking the rules' communities cause I had an author's note before Lore 1. Which has since been amended, by the way. I had anticipated that lore 1 was going to be a lot longer than it actually was, so I posted the author's note first because I didn't want Lore 1 to be excessively long...even though it wasn't. So that's been fixed, ya'll can stop yelling at me for that now.**

**Where was I? Oh yeah, the community. So after I checked the communities tab expecting the aforementioned 'rulebreaker' community. I jumped out of my seat once I saw Covelight in "Pokemon's Best of the Best" run by Xtreme Gamer and his staff. Oh man, if you guys are reading this right now, you've made the week of this 18 year old film student thirty times better. I mean, I'm already overjoyed seeing people reading and enjoying this story, but seeing my passion project since '14 alongside 'the best of the best' is incredibly rewarding. I guess it's just because I wasn't expecting it, y'know? The phrase 'you are your biggest critic' is something that I resonate with incredibly. I always feel like with Covelight, I'm always getting the feeling that it needs more. More improvement, more development, more...you get the idea. Seeing that gives me assurance that I'm doing well and that the passion I have for this project isn't going to waste. Thank you.**

**I'm gushing aren't I? Sorry.**

**Stick around, everyone. It's only going to get better from here (and I don't plan on keeping this story in a novel form forever, if you catch my drift.)**

**With that out of the way, let's get back into it! This is gonna be another Doozy of a chapter, so hold on tight!**

* * *

After all of that, the vision finally fades. I take a few seconds to process what I've just witnessed. "...well I've certainly gotten us all into a hot mess, haven't I?" I ask aloud to the group. They all just stare at me, Rezala waiting to see how I react and the other two just speechless after witnessing it all. I think for a couple seconds, "You sent them to Nocturnia you said?" I ask Rezala, who nods, but prevents me from saying anything else.

"Jackson, I know you want to see them, but remember. You're still being hunted down by Covelight and Ava Nocturne. If you go looking for them, the situation is only going to get worse." he explains. I want to interject, but he's right. "Y-yeah. I realise that, I'm going to put my feelings aside. I need to take care of this, I know what I need to do to resolve this issue." I reply, before I notice the crystal in a podium in the center of the room. "That crystal...It's the same as the madness crystal, but for light. Am I correct?" I inquire. Rezala nods, "Correct, every Chosen aspect has an accompanying Creation Crystal tied to it. I've been in the possession of the Radiance Crystal for well over 200 years." Rezala explains. Before turning back to me, "Now then, I'm sure you would like me to show you the ropes, give you a leg up on Ava?" Rezala inquires with a smirk.

I'm taken aback a little bit by this, "Are you...going to teach me new things?" I ask. Rezala smiles, "Just the basics, your powers will evolve as time progresses, but you need to unlock the foundations to build on." Rezala explains, Placing the Radiance Crystal into a metal ring that looks way too big for anyone here. Cobalt finally speaks up, "He has more to learn? He's already learned a lot of things so far."

Rezala keeps working on the crystal, "That so? Well then Jackson, care to explain what you can do as of right now? Oh and put your wrist in the ring" he asks, gesturing for me to put my arm in. I obey, "Lets see...I can shoot balls of energy, crush said balls to make a blade and a domed shield. Uhhh I can turn invisible...I think I was able to stop time at some point? It was really weird and I haven't been able to do it again since." Rezala pauses after that last one, then makes an impressed "Hm." noise, before going back to his task. "Fascinating, that's usually one of the last abilities I teach, anything else?" he ponders, the ring now projects a field of light inside the ring, covering my wrist. "I can view the full light spectrum and...I think I can see someone's soul, and draw out the light in it." I explain, Rezala definitely freezes there. "That's...a new one…" he mutters.

"It's true, I...how do I explain this?" Violet speaks up, pausing for a bit. "I was kidnapped when I was little, and made into a weapon. They did things to me, made me forget who I was, and I was a different person after the event. I tracked down Jackson and tried to kill him, but somehow. He was able undo all of that damage, everything that they did to me, chipped away until there was nothing left." Violet explains, I smile a little bit. Rezala glances between me and Violet, before clapping. "Wow, color me impressed Jackson. I think you might hold the record for the fastest a Chosen has acquired their unique ability. Normally it takes months or even years for one to get their own ability."

"My own ability? So none of the ones I mentioned previously are unique to me?" I ask. "The short answer is no, but we'll get to that in a bit...and...mind the pain." Rezala explains.

"Mind the wh-Gah!" I exclaim as the ring suddenly shrinks and clamps tightly around my wrist, causing me to recoil a bit. "What the fuck is this?!" I bark. "A conduit." Rezala answers, grabbing the crystal out of where I was just standing. "A conduit for what?" I ask. Rezala glances at the crystal floating just above his hand. "I'll get to that."

He turns to my companions, "I have a room if you take a right at the bottom of the stairs if you two would like to rest while Jackson and I train." Rezala offers. Cobalt sighs, "Y-yeah, this is a bit too much for me to handle right now, I'll take you up on that offer." Cobalt sighs, causing me to roll my eyes, "You're just gonna leave me with this guy? Thanks tongue-scarf." I remark. Cobalt chuckles, "That's the closest you've gotten to the Jackson Chaser I know so far." he notes, before leaving. Violet stays. "You're not gonna go with?" I ask her. She shrugs, "Call me intrigued, I wanna learn about this just as much as you do." She answers. I shrug, "Alright." I reply.

I turn back to the Azelf, "So, when do we start?" I ask. Rezala heads out of the door, "We start now, we don't have time to waste." he explains, staring back, with the sun shrouding his figure. I exhale slowly before exiting with him.

We make our way to a huge flat area made of marble. Stone targets dot the area. "By the way, does everyone have their own names for abilities or is there quote-unquote official names for the abilities" I ask as we stop for a second. "Every Chosen is ingrained with the ability names, it's part of becoming Chosen." He answers, setting the Radiance Crystal to the side. "So, you also call them Flash Pulse, Heaven's Saber, and so on?" I ask. He nods. "Speaking of which, hit a target with a Flash Pulse, I want to see your technique." he orders, standing behind me a bit. Violet's in the shade of a palm tree, observing.

I look to my hand for a bit, before charging a flash pulse in my hands and firing it at one of the stone targets, which by the way, is just a large pillar with a glowing ring in the middle. My pulse flies straight and true, for about 5 seconds before it starts barreling in circles before it hits the ground in front of the target. "W-what?" I ask aloud. I quickly fire another one at the same target. Similar response. "I don't-Why's this not working how I want it to?" I ask. Rezala approaches me, "You're doing the thing that all of my peers did starting out." he explains. "It's just like The Force. You're focusing too hard on the act rather than just…" he cuts himself off, before firing a beam of energy from his hand, before dragging it to the left, the beam fades out, before suddenly the areas hit explode in flashes of light a second later. I nearly fall over in shock, "What the hell'd you just do?" I shout.

Rezala is suddenly taken aback himself. "Right, I was going to get to that, I'll just explain it now." he chuckles.

"While every chosen has the same base abilities, those abilities will change over time, becoming something unique. What you just saw was what became of my Flash Pulse. I call it Flash Glaive."

I start laughing in awe. "You mean I'll be able to do that?!" I exclaim. Rezala shrugs, "Who knows, your Flash Pulse can change in any way. I chuckle a little bit, "Something to look forward to, I guess." I remark.

Rezala then thrashes his head, "Agh, I'm getting sidetracked. You're putting too much effort into your attacks, Jackson." I tilt my head slightly, "Too much?" I question. "Exactly. I know it's everyone's first instinct to try and force your abilities, but believe me. When it comes to the Light Aspect, less is more." Rezala explains. I stare out at the targets, then back at my palm. The glowing triangle slightly flickering idly, "Less is more…" I repeat to myself, before I hold my arm out towards the target again.

I summon another flash pulse and fire. It hits the ground.

"Again, don't force it, less is more." Rezala repeats.

I send a small amount of energy to my hand, my palm starts glowing. I push a little bit harder, a small flash pulse starts to form. I push a little harder, the sphere gets bigger, but I notice it's kinda wobbly in my hand. I cancel the attack and try again, "Less is more…" I repeat yet again. Suddenly, without any noticeable effort, another flash appears, much less wobbly than the one before. That was easy...almost too easy. It's weird, the less I think about it, the easier it is.

This is it, this is the key. My problem was that I've been forcing my attacks and using excess energy in my attacks, meaning I run out quickly. I take a deep breath to calm myself, lest I fuck up my shot. I point my hand at a target and fire. The Flash Pulse flies...mostly straight, it drifts a little bit, hitting the corner of the target rather than the center, but I at least I hit it. "Whoo!" I shout after it impacts. Rezala nods, "Good. It's important I taught you that first, as what I'm going to teach you next requires that very philosophy of 'less is more.' Now then, how would you like to learn some new abilities?" Rezala offers with a smirk on his face.

I grin, "Hell yeah I do." I answer.

Rezala nods. "Form a flash pulse in both hands." He orders. I relax myself and form one gently in each hand. "Okay, now push them into each other." He continues. I tilt my head a bit hearing this, but I obey. I press the two balls of energy into each other. The two energies merge into a single spiraling orb of light. "It's spiraling again." I inform. "It's supposed to." Rezala notes. I nod and then shoot the spiraling orb forward, it flies forward at a high speed...then a medium speed…then a slo-it's stopped. It's just hovering in the air, spinning.

"Uhh... is that supposed to happen?" I ask. Rezala nods, "you can control where it goes but stationary is fine for now. Point at a target, Jackson." He orders. I point my finger at one of the targets. The orb suddenly projects a thin, white beam, lining up with where my finger's pointing. Confused, I wave my hand around, the beam follows my finger to the point. "Now line back up and close your fist." He notes. I brace myself in anticipation, and then close my fist. The spinning orb suddenly unleashes a massive beam of bright white energy from its center, causing a small explosion on impact, before dissipating. It looks to have a similar damage output as a Dragon Breath attack. I'm left speechless, I look back at Violet, her jaw has practically assimilated itself with her neck. I turn to Rezala, who starts clapping. "Congrats Jackson, you've performed your first Raycaster."

"Raycaster, huh? How many can I have out at once?" I ask. Rezala shrugs "It varies from chosen to chosen, usually between the 10 to 20 range." Rezala answers. "Well, let's find out." I cheer, throwing out more Raycasters.

By my 13th Raycaster, I notice one would dissipate as I throw another out.

12 Raycasters max. Woulda liked a bit more, but 12 is a nice, even number. Plus, just seeing how powerful one "Seems like a dozen is all I can get." I note to Rezala. He nods, "By the way, they'll move how you want them to. Visualize them making a ring in your mind, they'll obey." He explains. I do so, the Raycasters now float in an orbit around me. "How do I get them to go away without shooting?" I ask.

"Press your thumb onto the side of your index finger."

Uhm…

"Rezala." I call. He looks over to see me hold my hands out. He studies my hands for a minute before realising the problem. "O-oh...that's right, you don't have thumbs…"

"Yeah."

Rezala pauses for a moment, "How do you grip things?" he asks, befuddled. Violet decides to answer that question. "Our species hands are covered in microscopic fibers that act as suction cups. which are conveniently controlled through muscles. It's why we're good climbers."

"Fuck it, gonna shoot a target!"

I interrupt, pointing my finger at one of the far targets, making the Raycasters form a ring in front of me. Rezala suddenly goes wide eyed, "WAIT STOP YOU'RE GONNA BRE-" He shouts, unfortunately he is too late. I close my fist, causing all 12 Raycasters to blast the target. A large explosion sends a gust of wind our way, Covering the area in a huge dust cloud. The dust clears and the stone pillar used as a target has been absolutely demolished. Rezala sulks, "Damnit Jackson, I'm gonna have to fix that…" he whines. I shrug playfully, "You gotta admit that was pretty sick though." I remark, he only sighs in response.

He quickly composes himself, "Now, you've shown you can use the Raycaster ability, now I assume you're a little low on energy after that?" He asks. He's right, after throwing all of those out, my heart rate has risen and my breathing has gotten heavier, I do honestly feel like taking a breather. I nod.

"You see, all of our powers draw from a reservoir of pure light essence hidden within our souls. Using our powers can drain this pool of light, and while rest will always fully replenish the pool, there is a way to replenish it quickly in a pinch. Not all the way, but again, it makes sure you aren't running out of energy and fainting in the middle of a battle." Rezala explains.

"Or at the end of one, in my case." I mutter.

Now that I think about it, I remember being able to kinda absorb light through my hands, maybe he's going to teach me how to properly accomplish that?

"It's surprisingly simple, just extend your arms and curl your fingers." Rezala then does the motion, The surrounding light starts funneling into his hands, his markings glow brighter in the process. "You try." he suggests.

I extend my arms out in front of me, curling my fingers inward, not so that I'm making a fist, but still touching the very top of my palm. White light forms in the surrounding area and begins funnelling into the glowing white hollow triangles on my palms. I feel energy surging through me ever so slightly, and not 30 seconds later, I feel great! I feel almost like I've just chugged a 2 liter of soda and getting the worlds most unhealthy sugar rush.

"Whoa, that works really well, actually." I note. Rezala nods, "It also heals wounds, but in a fight, you'd be able to photosynthesize for a lot less time than that. Fortunately, that's why I've given you the conduit on your wrist." Rezala notes, gesturing to the stone band on my left arm. I give it a look, then notice the cutout for the radiance crystal. "Wait, so is that crystal supposed to fit in this band?" I ask, I'm certain it is, but I've gotta make sure.

"Yes, the Radiance Crystal doesn't just create new Chosen, it provides an infinite reservoir of light essence and also makes your abilities incredibly strong. You will be taking it with you, I trust you'll take good care of it?" Rezala gives me a serious stare. "I-I dunno Rezala, you know what happened the last time I had one of those Crystals." I mutter. Violet makes an exaggerated sigh from under the tree, "Do you need me to digitise it for you so you don't lose it?" She asks. Rezala's taken aback. "Digitise?" he asks.

"...You haven't been in the outside world in a while haven't you...h-how old are you?" Violet retorts. Rezala places a hand on his chin as he thinks for a minute, "Hmm...I was born September 2006, soooo…..What year is it?"

"2207."

"Ah, then I'm 201 years old, I've been the guardian of this temple since I was 31...so I've been out of the loop for 170 years, just about."

There's an awkward silence for a few seconds until SUDDENLY COBALT!

"I heard an explosion! Everything right here?!" he shouts. I chuckle a bit, "That was me, we're good!" I shout back. Cobalt staggers a bit after hearing that? "I'm sorry, that loud explosion was YOU?" he repeats. I quickly demonstrate my Raycaster ability. Cobalt takes a minute to process the attack, "What you heard was 12 of those all at the same time." I explain. Cobalt blinks, "12?!" he stammers. I chuckle a bit, "You heard me."

Cobalt joins Violet under the shade of the palm tree. Rezala then turns back to me, "Now then, we're not trying to kill anyone, but I assume you'd like to see the final attack based ability, which also happens to be the most lethal ability in a Light Chosen's arsenal?" Rezala asks. I blink, "More lethal than giant explosion?" I ask, gesturing to the destroyed pillar in the back. "Well you see, as you might've noticed, Light abilities all have stun-like qualities to them, that's not to say you cant kill with the others, but this next ability is exclusively a lethal move...unless you have good enough aim with it." Rezala explains.

Well...that's the thing, I don't want to kill anyone. If I do, then when I do defeat Ava, I'll still have a reason to be convicted, plus...I just don't want to! But I can't say I'm not curious, I do still want to see what this ability is, call me intrigued, in Violet's words.

"S-sure, I'll try it. I won't use it, though." I answer. Rezala nods, "Understandable, now do the opposite of a Raycaster, instead of pushing flash pulses into each other, throw your arms out as far out as you can go quickly." he orders. I nod and after a couple attempts, I notice my Flash Pulses suddenly dissolve in my hand, the energy floating upwards, before forming into two pairs of large, thin, almost needle-like spikes. "There you go Jackson. Those are Glisteners, just throw your arms in a direction and they'll fly through anything in that direction." Rezala explains,

"They're called Glisteners?! That's such an innocent name, why are they-?" I exclaim, before I notice said Light-Javelins do sparkle...quite a lot...weird."

I look at one of the targets and throw my arms forward, causing all four of the Glisteners to rocket past me at an insane speed, quickly embedding themselves in the target, before shortly dissipating. "Now, of course it gets stuck in stone, but on something organic, they'd go right through, you've probably noticed that they're hard to aim though." Rezala explains, I nod.

"Now then, on to your next lesson, the last ability that requires a Flash Pulse. Form a flash pulse and snap your fingers." Rezala orders, before looking back to the others and...covering his eyes? Eh whatever, this sounds simple enough. I snap my fingers, which is a little difficult with my lack of thumbs, but I manage to sna-OH GODS EVERYTHING IS WHITE!

I hear the others laughing hysterically, I groan loudly, covering my eyes to try and stop the blindness to little avail. "OH YOU MOTHERFUCKER! YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE!" I rage.

So...if I snap my fingers with a Flash Pulse, I create a flashbang...minus the ringing ears.

Woulda been nice to know before I blinded myself...

Around 5-10 seconds later, the blindness wears off, I glare at Rezala, who chuckles a bit. "That's called the Flare ability." he explains. "Good to know I guess, thanks for letting me blind myself." I grumble. Rezala grins, then sighs. "This is going to be the last new material before we begin training." Rezala explains. Suddenly Rezala disappears, a trail of light circling behind me. "You said you did this by accident, If I remember correctly. This is the Blink ability." Rezala explains. "Y-yeah, it was like I stopped time for a small time." I add, Rezala shakes his head, "Not time, DISTANCE, also you're not stopping time, you're just moving at lightspeed, making everything else look slower." he corrects, blinking back to where he was. "This ability is...an interesting one, as it's not casted physically, but like Camouflage, mentally. With practice, it can be casted easily, but for a novice such as yourself. It's easier to think about WHY you wanna move faster than light, say…" Rezala trails off, before suddenly forming a glistener and throwing it at me, I panic before the world suddenly turns grey, a mirage of where I just was has been left behind, the Glistener is flying...past me, but it looked very straight in real time. Rezala suddenly regains color, "There you go. Now sidestep a bit." Rezala explains, I obey and the world resumes color, the glistener flying through a tree and embedding itself into the temple's wall. "There you go, that simple." Rezala chirps. "So what you're saying is that it just happens automatically?" I inquire, he nods, "At first, after a few more times though, your mind will figure it out and you'll be able to blink at will, like me." he explains.

I look back to him, "So what happens now?" I ask.

"Well if this were a movie, this is where the training montage would start, probably set to something like The Weeknd's 'Blinding Lights.'" Rezala jokes.

"THE WEEKND?! HOW OLD ARE YOU MATE?" Cobalt yells. "201!" Rezala barks back. Cobalt thinks for a little bit. "Yeah, sounds about right…"

We trained for hours upon hours, constant sparring until sundown. I now find myself with the others sat at the top of the stairs at the temple, eating some berries, not exactly protein, but it gets the job done.

Rezala sighs, "You're about as ready as you can get now. Bear in mind that despite all I've taught you, this fight will not be an easy one. As I assume to get to Ava, you have to go into the heart of Covelight, Aerocroft." He explains, Cobalt scoffs "You mean to tell me we gotta go back to where this all started?" he asks. Rezala nods, "Indeed you will, though I must applaud your resilience in keeping Jackson safe for him to meet me." Rezala compliments. Cobalt groans a little bit, "Thanks, I guess." he grumbles. Rezala then turns to me, "One last thing." he starts, causing me to look over to him. "You might not have figured this out yet, but your body no longer relies on food and oxygen to survive, you'll still feel like you need to breathe and feel hungry, as your body's still programmed to feel that way. But now all you need is a source of light to survive." Rezala notes, "That's kinda gimmicky, but alright." I note. Rezala then looks at me in the eyes with a serious face, "That said, being without a light source, being in pitch black darkness, is unbelievably dangerous to you. Being caught in darkness will kill you in minutes, I'm telling you this, because Fear Chosen have the ability known as Nyctophobia, which creates a bubble in which no light exists, Ava will no doubt try to use that ability against you. When that happens, place the Radiance Crystal into your conduit, that will give you enough energy to break the dome.

Cobalt then finishes the last bite of a sitrus berry, before turning to us, "If we hope to get to Aerocroft by tomorrow, we need to get going now so that we can get to my car." Cobalt starts.

"Are you awake enough to drive?" Violet ponders. Cobalt nods, "I took a nap while they were training, remember?" Cobalt notes. Violet rolls her eyes, "If you say so." she finishes. Rezala then smiles, "You don't need to walk there, I can teleport us to your car with my psychic powers." Rezala offers. "And you couldn't teleport us here WHYYY?" Cobalt prods. Rezala narrows his eyes a little bit, "Because I can't teleport anything within 10 feet of me." he explains. Cobalt then nods in understanding, muttering to himself.

…

Rezala teleported us back to Serenity's cabin. After getting the car ready, Rezala gave Violet the Radiance Crystal, which she then tried to digitise, to no avail surprisingly. I decided to place it into the conduit, suddenly feeling the infinity of the gem on my wrist.

I feel ready for anything Ava wants to throw my way.

We say our goodbyes and leave the area, getting back onto the highway. Cobalt's talking about how old Rezala's pop-culture references were. "Then there was the Star Wars reference he made during the fight. That guy, man. You had a phase where you watched old american films too, Jackson." Cobalt notes. I tilt my head a bit, "Really? Huh." I reply, slightly surprised at myself. Cobalt groans suddenly, "Don't even get me started on Top Gun." he grumbles. "Top Gun?" I ask. Cobalt sighs, "It was a movie about a fighter pilot named Maverick, dogfighting and stuff, I haven't watched it, but you wouldn't shut up about it. Took like 3 months to get to stop humming 'Danger Zone!'" Cobalt shouts. The car suddenly starts receiving a transmission, which Cobalt answers. A Latias appears on screen, "J-Jackson, It's me...Jasmine. You know, your girlfriend?" she starts. All of us take a collective second to process what she just said. "Ahem...GIRLFRIEND?!" Violet shouts...right in my ear (ow….) "You were dating a Latias?!" Cobalt spits. "I was dating a Latias?" I ask myself. The transmission seems to be one way, so Jasmine doesn't stop talking. "If you're hearing this...I really want to know what's going on! I haven't seen you for weeks, and now I hear you're a fugitive now?! Jackson, please, head to this location I've sent you, we need to talk." She explains. Before the transmission ends.

Cobalt looks at the map, "That's pretty close actually...Jackson? This could be a trap." Cobalt notes. "I dunno, she sounded pretty sincere. This might be legit, plus I'm curious to meet this girlfriend of yours, Jackson." Violet adds. Guess this is my decision, "I don't think this is a good Idea, but I'm gonna give this the benefit of the doubt, let's meet up with Jasmine." I explain.

"Alright then, I'll trust your judgement…" Cobalt sighs, heading to the location on the map.

We make a turn down this sketchy set of backroads. It's pretty dark out, so I can't see up ahead.

Suddenly the car gets another transmission, "JACKSON! THEY DID SOMETHING TO ME THAT FORCED ME TO TELL YOU TO COME HERE! GET OUT OF HERE, IT'S A TRA-" her voice cuts off as Violet's eyes go wide as she watches a Skarmory in Covelight armor drop a disc onto the road. "COBALT LOOK OUT!" She screams as the disc skips across the asphalt towards us. Cobalt panics and hits the handbrake, turning to the left. The car skids sideways in an attempt to stop to no avail.

The disc slides under the car and explodes in a massive burst of plasma, causing the car to be thrown into the air and tumble down the road, before skidding to a stop on its roof…

* * *

**UP NEXT: CHAPTER 11, End Of The Line.**

**Oh-ho-ho! I betcha weren't expecting THAT to be how this chapter ends. We're in the endgame now folks! I can't wait! ...Man I say that a lot, don't I?**

**here's an unnecessary bit of Trivia. Regarding the whole "Snivy have no thumbs" thing, I was originally gonna just ignore it and give Jackson thumbs anyway, but then I thought of that bit of Rezala realizing he can't get rid of the Raycasters because of lack of thumbs and decided it was funny so I'll roll with it, so I got curious did some research, and found out that in the Anime, Ash's Snivy is seen holding things with sticky fingers (Not talking about zippers, By the way), so I thought, "Hmm…Snivy is a reptile, and they grab things using only their palms and 3 fingers, what else does that?" Then I thought of Geckos, how they can stick to stuff at will without having to physically grab them. So I looked up how Geckos stick to things, and gave that trait to Snivy...maybe other Pokemon without thumbs while I'm at it. Just goes to show that I DO actually put thought into these kinda things. Anyway, there's been enough 'me' in this chapter. **

**This is Elysium, Over and Out.**


	14. Chapter 11: End of the Line

**Holy crap, someone ACTUALLY asked me a challenging question. **

**If Celatians developed independently from humanity, how can there be a Porygon Z, a man made Pokemon, in chapter 4?**

**I spent a good hour and a half thinking about the answer to that, cause if I'm being honest, the reason a Porygon is in there was because I was thinking "What Pokemon would fit in as an engineer?" And Porygon Z was what I decided on. Clearly didn't think that through, IT'S OKAY THOUGH, I CAN BULLSHIT AN ANSWER JUST LEMME EXPLAIN! **

**Ahem. The Porygon we all know was created deliberately by the Cinnabar lab in Kanto out of computer data. Celatia on the other hand accidentally created it after a coding error occurred while developing their first attempt at a supercomputer for the Celatia Aerospace program. **

**Though since it was created differently and for a different purpose, it's not going to be quite the same as the man made Porygon. I guess really, you can say Celatian Porygon is a regional variant.**

**A little bit BS but I guess it works? Hopefully that's a satisfactory answer.**

**Now I wasn't planning on creating regional variants for Celatia, but oh well, too late now. Now I'm intrigued, so I think I'll design the Celatian Porygon line and post it on the DeviantArt. Thinking of making it an electric-flying type, that'd be interesting.**

**Since I'm doing regional variants now, why don't you guys give me some ideas for Pokemon I should make a variant for. (It'll be a nice change of pace from drawing Snivy, Greninja, Latias and Genesect all day.) Just make sure to at least make it reasonable, and try not to ask variants for Pokemon that have already been made into characters. **

**Okay! Enough talk! I'm sure you're wondering where the cliffhanger from the last chapter goes, so let's get into it. Prepare for another doozy of a chapter!**

* * *

"Auuugh…" I groan. I lay on the ceiling of the Neo, covered in shattered glass. I took a heavy blow to the head, so I'm a bit dazed, but I wasn't knocked out, fortunately. Ugh...what happened? I remember just driving along and getting a transmission...did Cobalt wreck the car? Awh dammit, now how are we going to get to…

I feel fabric fall onto my arm, prompting me to open my eyes, I can't see all that well at first, but my vision focuses. My ears on the other hand are still filled with a constant ringing noise. I can see Violet directly above me, still secured to the seat with the seatbelt that I fell out of, unconscious. She's definitely injured, though given that she didn't get thrown around like I did, she might be alright. The black bandana I'm used to seeing around her neck has fallen off, now resting on my arm. I wince and slowly pick myself up, groaning from standing in broken glass. I'm still disoriented slightly, but I still manage to pull her from the seat, I look over to Cobalt, he definitely got the worst out of all of us. His body is covered in cuts and bruises, one of his thighs is trapped in the steering column, he too is unconscious. I'll help him next. I crawl out of the shattered passenger side window, planning to pull Violet out of the wreckage, but my hearing picks up a loud noise, like a….Helicopter?"

It's then I spot dozens of Covelight Soldiers slowly advancing on the wreck from all directions in full combat gear with weapons trained on me, "JACKSON CHASER! YOU ARE TO STAND DOWN! PLACE YOUR HANDS UP IMMEDIATELY!" A voice shouts from the crowd surrounding me on all sides. I try to look for an escape route, but it's no use. I'm surrounded.

Suddenly the area is covered by a spotlight from up above. A large, twin-rotor aircraft starts descending. I can see a large gatling gun on the front fully spooled trained on me.

How do I get out of this?

I know I was just trained...but I don't know If I can really take this force on. I notice 3 more of those aircraft circling the area.

…

I can't do anything…

"End of the line, Chaser! Come quietly and return my daughter, or we WILL open fire!" Mayrum's voice shouts from the intercom on the aircraft hovering in front of me.

I stare out at the crowd of soldiers surrounding me. A second layer makes their way from the brush

...Dammit.

I lower my head, gritting my teeth.

I raise my hands and get on my knees, a Gallade immediately kicks me to the dirt, quickly handcuffing me. The aircraft touches down, a door opens on the side, but it's so bright inside I can only see the silhouette of a Typhlosion. "Search the car! I want my daughter!" He shouts, a Rhyperior rips the door off, with a Raichu quickly coming in and pulling Violet out of the car, with a Drapion grabbing Cobalt. Violet suddenly awakens in the arms of the Raichu and panics. She starts resisting, hitting the raichu with her elbow, "No! It's me! Let me go!" She screams before the Raichu suddenly uses an electric move for a split second, discharge from the looks of it.

Violet screams in agony for a bit. "SHUT UP!" The Raichu yells in response, handcuffing her and throwing her with me. Violet groans as she hits the ground. "Vi! Are you alright?!" I ask, causing her to realise I'm here too. She groans again, "I...I'll live!" she replies painfully. Mayrum steps out of the plane and walks toward us. "You put up a good manhunt, Chaser; but thanks to your 'Squadmate', we were able to lure you in. The Jig is up. I'm gonna take you in for under accounted terrorism and kidnapping." Mayrum explains.

"I wasn't…" Violet moans. Mayrum scoffs, "Load them into the plane, we have a long day ahead of us." Mayrum orders. A bronzong steps in front of us, it's "eyes" suddenly light up blue

I feel dizzy...I feel faint...I feel…

Violet and I fall under the effects of hypnosis and fall asleep, where they then load all 3 of us into the plane, leaving the totalled Kerzeo Neo behind.

We're suddenly awoken by Awakening serums still in the back of the plane. A Galvantula pulls away from us, handing the Awakening to a Noivern (Why's he in a plane if he can fly?) Mayrum is sitting across from us, now Devolved back into Quilava.

"We're 2 minutes away from headquarters. We'd normally save the interrogation for later, but I think while I have you here, I'll entertain myself and let you try to defend yourself." Mayrum explains. I look behind me to see the large city of Aerocroft through a window just behind my head, it looks to be early morning. The illuminating neon glow I previously witnessed a week ago has now been washed away by the glow of our resident ball of fire. I can now fully see just how large Aerocroft really is.

Aerocroft is made up of multiple districts. A bustling downtown area with dozens of high rise buildings. A large industrial area just beyond, where a lot of factories and businesses make their homes. Multiple residential areas dot the city, each varying in economic quality. With the more wealthy suburbs much farther north than the near-downtown slums. Aerocroft also connects to a large lake to the west of town, with the surrounding area being mostly a tourist trap. Hotels, souvenir shops, the sort.

I look back to Mayrum. I just now noticed he has a robotic hand...has he always had that? Why did I just notice that now?

"I haven't done anything to deserve this." I explain. Mayrum scoffs, "You kidnapped my daughter! You definitely had my daughter with you when we-" the Quilava chuckles before Violet cuts him off.

"No Mayrum." She notes. Mayrum then looks to her confused. "I went with them of my own accord. They even offered to leave me in Camaro. I stuck with them voluntarily, Mayrum." She explains sternly. Mayrum blinks, "Violet...you don't seem yourself...are you su-" he asks before Violet interrupts him again.

"Yes, I'm different. I'm not the Violet you knew, because thanks to Jackson I've returned back to my old self. Alexis Halsey was my name, Mayrum. Before your own scientists turned me into that THING named Violet." She barks. Mayrum is a little stunned for a few seconds. That suddenly gives me an idea.

I take a deep breath and use my Clairvoyance ability on Mayrum. The world goes dark as Mayrum's soul comes into view. I don't feel a lot of light in his soul, but that's not my main focus. His soul is wrapped up in scarlet tendrils like a large hand clutching his soul, refusing to let him go. Ava's clearly dug her roots into this tired soul. I need to get that dreadful mass to let him go. It might be the only way to get him on _my_ side.

I deactivate Clairvoyance.

Mayrum thinks for a minute, before scoffing and looking to me. "I heard Stockholm Syndrome is in full bloom this time of year." he notes. I growl at him, Violet shakes her head "That's not-" she interjects. Mayrum points at her with his bionic hand, "STAND...down. We'll deal with this pest, you can hang out in my office until we're done, ok?" he asks, causing Violet to zip her lips, before looking back at me dejectedly. "It's fine. I don't think anything's gonna convince him until Ava's stopped." I explain, Mayrum suddenly narrows his eyes. "What was that?" I glare at him, "Nothing. Let's get this over with." I bark.

The VTOL touches down on a section of the Covelight headquarters not far down from the roof. The headquarters itself being a large skyscraper in downtown Aerocroft. It features 5 helipads and a small runway on the roof. It's not the tallest building in Aerocroft, as that belongs to the NOVA Corporation's central office, (They make things like fuel cells for EVs, automation supplies, commercial starships, the sort.)

While not the tallest, the Covelight Headquarters is definitely the biggest volume wise, with 42 stories above ground, and I believe an entire underground research and development complex down below. Not to mention it's big enough to have it's own runway on the roof for Arceus' sake.

The door on the side of the aircraft opens up, A group of guards stand just in front of a door leading to inside the structure. Mayrum steps out, before ordering Violet and I to follow suit. We step out onto the cold metal surface of the helipad as the blades whirr to a stop, we're forced to get onto our knees. Mayrum goes behind Violet and removes her handcuffs. A slight look of bewilderment is plastered on her face as she holds her hands in front of her. Mayrum then notices the conduit band on my left arm. He glares to me,

"Chaser! What's that on your wrist?"

"Handcuffs, sir."

"Ough!" I grunt as Mayrum slugs me in the back of the head. Filling my body with pain and forcing me to kiss the floor. I don't care, that joke was worth it. I chuckle a little bit, "You think this is a joke Chaser?" he yells. I wince and sit back up, still chortling slightly "To be fair you walked into that one." I comment.

Then I regret the whole ordeal once I feel Mayrum pry the conduit off of my wrist, I feel the power of the crystal immediately leave my body. I look back in horror to see Mayrum toss it into the grate of the Helipad, falling below. My best asset now out of reach, I grit my teeth in defeat. Violet looks back at the conduit, pondering making a go for it since she's unshackled. Mayrum stops her though, placing his metal hand on the small of her back and coaxing her to walk forward. The Noivern ushers me to my feet, before shoving me forward. Mayrum looks back to the Noivern, "Take him to the Interrogation wing, room 9." he orders. Violet then looks at him confused, "There's no 9th room in the interrogation wing." she notes, before her face is suddenly stricken with horror when she looks back at the tiltrotor. I turn around to see what she's looking at, before I share a similar expression. I see Cobalt on a stretcher being wheeled out from the Cargo section. In the daylight, his injuries are clear as day, with multiple lacerations dotting his body, covering the navy blue frog in a red fluid. The worst one appearing to be a dislocated knee. Violet suddenly looks away, unable to look for much longer, I don't blame her. Who woulda thunk that the girl trained to be a killing machine is squeamish. The Noivern shoves me again, "Eyes forward!" he orders. I sneer at him and keep moving. When we enter, Mayrum makes a left, Violet in tow. She looks back at me worriedly as I'm taken to the right.

I nod slowly to her as I'm taken into a moderately lit hallway. Pokemon in uniform coming and going, and yet all give me a stare, I can feel a thousand eyes staring me down. I can't help but feel unnerved, yet I know that fear is what Ava wants. She wants me to feel afraid, and despite how much I'm trying to hide it, yeah. I'm kinda freaking the fuck out.

Eventually I'm taken to a room. As we enter, I realise what Rezala meant when he said "Stay out of dark areas." As the door is shut, the room goes PITCH BLACK. A shock ripples through my body as purple energy starts sparking across my body. My flesh burns as I can see what looks to be bubbles of my own light bursting on my skin. I try to scream facing this sheer agony I'm experiencing, but nothing leaves my mouth, or goes in for that matter. I feel like I'm suffocating, My heart starts beating in my ears. I have no idea what I must look like right now, but I feel like I've found myself trapped in the Distortion world, enduring the worst torture ever inflicted on someone. I wouldn't even wish this pain on my enemies….except maybe Ava…

…

Also, _AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!_

"What's happening to him?" I hear over the intercom as I collapse to the ground. "OH NO! FOR ARCEUS' SAKE MAYRUM TURN ON THE LIGHT IN THERE!" I hear Violet screams over the com. Before finally, the room lights up. I suddenly take a MASSIVE gasp for air, before coughing profusely. I hear shocked gasps come from the coms, it isn't long before I find out why.

My skin is incredibly charred, it looked like I was just caught in a house fire...to be fair that's what it felt like. "Vi, what's happened to him?" I hear Mayrum over the com. "Jackson's body has been changed to be almost entirely light, so...whenever he's in pitch black darkness...that happens."

I slowly shift over onto my back, my skin still feeling like a third degree burn. I point my hand toward the light and do the absorption technique Rezala taught me. Slowly, my body fixes the damage from all of that. I groan and sit up, "That was the absolute worst agony I've ever felt in my entire life…." I groan.

"Aw...little leafy's afraid of the dark…" A seductive voice comes in from behind me. A chill shoots down my spine as I quickly dart my head to look behind me. In the middle of the room...

...Is her.

I slowly stand up to face her. Staring daggers at the red rhombus ringed Umbreon, with the red gem still stuck in that slot in her chest.

"After all that I've done to you. You still find a way to be a pain in my ass." Ava announces.

I just realised something now that the lights have been turned on. This room is WAY too big to be an interrogation room, there's not even a two way mirror. I've been led into this massive white chamber, Illuminated by square meter large light panels that make up the ceiling.

"Let me guess, this some kind of execution room?" I ask. Staring around the room, before gold and blue meets scarlet again. Ava chuckles, "Funny if that were the case, but no. This room is a Training sim, actually."

"Nice of you to give me such a well lit room...after 20 seconds of the opposite." I joke. Ava laughs, "Mmm...I know you're just killing to use it on me."

"That would be the case."

"Mmm...as much as I would LOVE to kill you myself, I have other things to attend to."

"Oh really? Care to elaborate?"

"You see...this...gem...stuck in my chest...it talks to me."

"It talks?"

"She tells me what to do, and how to do it. She and I crave the same thing after all."

"She?"

"We both crave chaos. She tells me how to cause as much as possible, and I do it because it's fun."

Wait a minute...could it be?

What if she's not abusing the power of the crystal...rather the opposite? Is the madness crystal…. abusing her?

This just got more complicated.

"So she's informed me of what to do with you. Jackson."

"And that is…?"

A panel slowly rises out of the floor.

"Do you remember the Prototype Genesect Sentinel that I sent after you?" She asks.

"The silver and yellow one? Yeah, I remember. Almost killed me."

"You know I spent over 4 months designing it. It was just supposed to be a prototype, a little attack Houndoom I could send after those I didn't like. I've been having it developed in secret, but when I...felt that you were still kicking, and that you were CHOSEN. I knew I had to speed up the development a bit...not that it mattered, as it was almost done anyway. I forced Mayrum to not question the fact that it was finished soon after he filed the order. It's cute, really."

"You...designed it?"

"Everything down to the antimatter guns."

"That's Impressive...I must admit. But where are you going with this?"

"Well...you see…"

The Panel has stopped rising, it's nothing but a storage unit. Ava opens the locker, and my eyes widen once I see what's inside; A silver and yellow Genesect, with the right side of its face torn off, and a massive hole in it's chest, it seems it's left eye has been removed. Ava moves her gaze up and down the machine, wearing a face of content. "I picked him up from the construction site a few hours after you massacred him." Ava explains, calling the machine a 'him' as if it were her own son.

"Pluto…" I mutter to myself.

"I'm heartbroken, what you did to my little pet here. But I feel everyone deserves a second chance." Explains Ava.

She matches my gaze "Wouldn't you say so?" she asks. "I am SO far from giving you one, if that counts as an answer." I reply, glaring at the dark type (Wait, if I'm made of light, am I weak against dark types now?) She smirks a little, before her body starts to emit a scarlet aura. "I recently found out that I can fragment my soul to bring inanimate objects to life." she notes. I suddenly understand what she's doing.

Oh No you don't!

"No!" I shout as I suddenly blink forward to gain speed, now running toward her at full sprint as she raises her paw to touch the machine in the locker. I form a flash pulse and crush it, forming a saber in my left hand. Ava's scarlet eyes quickly dart over to me, her smile flattening out, before said eyes flash red.

Opaque red cables appear out of nowhere and quickly wrap themselves around me, causing me to trip and fall face first into the padded white floor with a grunt. The Saber fades soon after. Ava scoffs.

"That's the fear of bondage." Ava explains. "Quite useful in a pinch, such as this."

I struggle against the bonds wrapped around me to no avail. "You motherfucker!" I growl at her. Her cocky smirk returns, seemingly fueled by my rage. She plants her paw on the machine, her red aura now transferring to Pluto.

Ava starts walking towards the exit smiling, meanwhile the Genesect starts shaking violently as a red light suddenly fills the room emanating from the hole in it's chest. It's knubbed hands suddenly expand and contort violently, shaping a pair of blades not unlike the blades of a scyther, the two air intakes that previously occupied the area of the face have now grown into bony mandibles. Blood, yes, BLOOD, starts pouring from the damaged areas. The two round parts that make up it's shoulders have fused with it's main body, and the cannon on it's back loses the large shell that makes up the lower part of the cannon, replaced by two large, bony spikes that protrude out from its side. Finally, last but not least, the socket that the left eye was taken out of, which consists of three small holes in the armor plating taking the shape of a line, with the middle hole being a larger diameter of the other two, suddenly fills with blackness, blood starts pouring from the holes, and a single red dot appears in the center hole. The red dot moves over to face my direction. An animalistic, almost alien shriek comes from the monstrosity as that red dot suddenly burns with hatred.

"My pet's upset that you've killed him." Ava notes as she punches in a sequence on the keypad by the door. "So I think I'll give him a new chew toy to calm him down." She jokes. I gaze back at her. She opens the door and begins making her exit, but quickly stops herself. She turns around to look at me and the zombie Genesect. Which is now breaking itself out of the locker. She laughs.

"Okay you two!" She shouts.

"Play nice." she finishes, before locking the door behind her.

The red bindings vanish, I'm able to move again. I quickly get up to take a defensive stance. Pluto finally breaks free from it's own bindings and glares at me.

"WWWRRRRRYYYYYYYYY!" it snarls at me.

"THAT SOUNDS LIKE A NOISE A VAMPIRE WOULD MAKE!" I mock, forming sabers in both hands.

The nightmare suddenly charges me, new bladed claws primed to tear my head off in pure rage. I steel myself and ready myself to parry.

Also...I'm sorry for cutting this part off. The female lead hasn't had enough spotlight in this story.

…

* * *

Violet is lead into Mayrum's office by none other than the man himself. A Blaziken enters with them. Mayrum plops Violet down on the couch inside, "Just stay here Violet. I'll take care of this." He explains, before notioning to the Blaziken. "Keep an eye on her for me, Okay? Do anything she asks, but don't let her leave the room. I'm meeting up with Ava on the roof." he orders. The Blaziken nods grudgingly. Mayrum leaves the room, leaving Violet alone with the Blaziken, who huffs in annoyance. She wasn't able to see much after witnessing Ava announce her presence to Jackson through the camera feed.

_I've gotta get out of this room, but there's a guard in here who will surely keep me from leaving…_

Violet thinks for a moment, before coming up with a way out of the room. She turns her gaze to the annoyed Blaziken in the corner of the room. "What's your name, Blaziken?" She asks the guard. The guard is suddenly taken aback by the daughter of his boss suddenly speaking with him. "It's...Bursyamo, Ma'am." he answers, now gazing upon the snake pokemon before him. Violet can see in his eyes that he's definitely young, and naive...perfect.

"That your first or your last name?" She asks, now adding a touch of flirt to her voice.

"First name's Brendan...miss."

She smiles. "Say, Brendan. Could you be a dear and hand me a drink from the fridge there." She requests. Making subtle movements in an attempt to attract the Blaziken. Brendan sighs, before grabbing an Allegory from the fridge and walking over to her on the couch. "Thank you!" She coos as she snatches the drink. "And, I'm sorry." She apologises. Brendan turns away and starts heading to the corner again, waving his hand in dismissal. "Don't worry about it, boss's orders." he sighs. Vines suddenly start spilling from her pauldrons as they start closing the distance. "No, I'm sorry for this." She announces, before quickly coiling said vines around the Blaziken's neck, squeezing tightly and reeling herself into his back like a grappling hook, where she then wraps her own body around his neck, before constricting like a python. Brendan chokes and tries gasping for air to no avail. He tries to pry the snake off of his body, but his muscles don't have the oxygen required to pull her off. His eyes suddenly roll back as he passes out. Not dead, mind you, but he'll be asleep long enough to not cause any trouble. Violet's hit with guilt, but she knows what's at stake here. She uses her vines to lay him on the couch, before fully retracting themselves back into her pauldrons. She pulls out a pistol from the holster on his hip, before setting it to stun mode and leaving the office.

She steps out into the white, brightly lit hallway on the 40th floor, the floor just above the interrogation wing. To most people, this building is a labyrinth, with each floor on its own being the size of a small office building (laid out laterally, of course.) Any new recruit could easily get lost in here. Fortunately for Violet, since she's spent a good portion of her time with Mayrum ON THIS FLOOR, and the nearby floor as well, she knows her way around the upper floors of the headquarters like the back of her hand. She huffs, before breaking into a full sprint, wishing that her cloaking bandana wasn't left in the wreckage of the car. She'll do just fine without it, but it would be nice to have.

Unknowingly she trips a laser tripwire, the hallway goes dark as an orange neon serves as the lighting for this floor..

"Violet Covelight is attempting to free the fugitive, all units on the 40th floor: apprehend and detain. Lethal force is prohibited." an automated voice echoes.

She grits her teeth now that she knows she's going to encounter some resistance.

_Fine, I guess I just gotta go through them._

She continues her sprint until she finds a Beartic and an Excadrill running down the hallway towards her. "THERE SHE IS!" The Beartic shouts, readying a shocklance. Violet exhales calmly as she rushes toward them. The shocklance fires a ball of electricity toward her, but Violet's able to leap into the air, not quite clearing the projectile however. Due to quick thinking, however, she kicks off of one of the walls, rolling through the air over the tazer-ball. Whilst upside down in the air, she takes aim, before popping a shot at the Beartic, nailing him in the face. The Excadrill goes in for a metal claw, attempting to catch her when she lands, Violet counters by falling into a slide, going underneath the attack, the metal claw only an inch away from her snout. She caps the ground-type in the back 3 times, making him howl in pain, before collapsing with his eyes in swirls. Violet quickly gets back on her feet, pressing a small switch on the side of her pistol, a loud hiss is heard as steam is ejected from the slide, now cocked backwards. While weapons in the future don't require ammo, and thus, don't have to be reloaded, plasma generates a lot of heat. So in order to keep your blaster from melting in your hands, you have to vent the heat out of the weapon with a switch on the side.

She enters what looks to be the office space of one of Covelight's many dispatch units. A Kirlia suddenly appears from behind the door and puts a pistol to Violet's temple. Violet's eyes suddenly dart to the right, locking gazes with her assailant. The Kirlia glares nervously "Drop it!" she shouts. Violet narrows her eyes "You're not actually a combatant, are you?" Violet notes, causing the Kirlia to take a step back nervously, handgun still trained. "Didn't think so." the Snivy concludes, before using her tail to sweep the dispatch officer's legs, before Violet grabs the psychic type's gun out of the air and pops a shot in her chest. The Kirlia groans as her muscles stop moving. "It's probably best you stay that way." Violet suggests. The Kirlia nods, softly moaning in pain. Violet turns back to see an office chair deck her in the head. She squeals as she's knocked back into the hallway. She grips her head as she rights herself. Down the Aisle is a Staraptor with a shoulder mounted rifle. In two cubicles on either side of the ailes is a Plusle and a Minun, rubbing their cheeks to generate electricity, likely to try and hit her with a thunder wave and paralyse her. Though she can tell by the way the electric types are conducting themselves that they, like the Kirlia, are just office workers, the Staraptor however is definitely a soldier, and a high ranking one at that, as it's body is covered in a navy blue armor, with teal LEDs accenting all over. The Bird suddenly flicks its head downwards, causing a helmet to materialise on itself. Violet looks to the office chair that was thrown at her and gets a quick idea. She picks up the handguns off the ground and dashes toward the chair, using her tail to flick it back onto its wheels, before kicking it down the aisle. She proceeds to leap onto the chair as it continues to roll down the aisle. She takes aim at both electric types with her akimbo Gale-18s (Celatian Laser Glock, essentially) The Staraptor opens fire in slight surprise to the grass type's strategy. Violet pulls both triggers, causing dark purple beams of energy to impact the electric types, causing them to fall backwards and instead thunder wave the Staraptor, making it cease its attack. Violet uses Leaf Blade to launch the chair into the Staraptor and propel herself into the air. A Bisharp enters the room to see Violet fall between him and the Staraptor, she holds her arms out. The muzzle of each pistol crossing both Pokemon. She pulls the triggers, causing both the Staraptor and the Bisharp to collapse in stun. Violet doesn't break her fall very well, landing on one of her pauldrons. She sucks in air through her teeth in pain, before quickly recovering and entering the elevator room, ignoring said elevator and pushing through the door to the stairwell. The door hits a Lucario, knocking her down a flight of stairs. Violet is taken aback, but shrugs and shoots her with one of her guns to keep the female lucario from standing up.

"Owww….you're a fucking asshole…." She groans at the Snivy as she passes, currently sticking her tongue out at the steel type. The 39th floor isn't in lockdown, fortunately for Violet. So she quickly makes her way to the interrogation wing. However, she notices a section called "Infirmary." She halts her progress and enters the door, finding Cobalt lying in a hospital bed, awake, talking to one of the nurses, slightly panicked. The nurse, a shiny Sylveon, wears a distressed expression. Both of them suddenly notice her enter, as the three of them are the only ones in the room.

"Violet!" Cobalt shouts, Violet quickly takes aim at the shiny Sylveon as she bolts over to Cobalt. Cobalt holds his hand up in defense, "Wait! I told her everything, she knows Jackson." Cobalt explains, Violet glances at him, taken aback a bit. "It's true, I've treated him before. He's a good kid...if not a bit arrogant." The Sylveon explains. "So, you're helping us?" Violet presses, the Sylveon bows her head in response. "I'm Doctor Sylvia Pixy. Jackson is on the other side of the floor, I'll do what I can for Cobalt. I'm afraid I won't be fighting myself, however." She notes. Violet sighs contently, "Alright, Hang tight Cobalt." Violet orders. "I'm going to break Jackson out, and then we're gonna come back for you. I heard Mayrum mention that he's meeting with Ava on the roof." Cobalt nods. "Good luck." Cobalt wishes, before Violet exits the room. Bolting down the white hallways, before finding herself in the interrogation wing. She finds a Latias with Amethyst purple eyes pressing her ear to the Door to Jackson's cell. The dragon dons white flight goggles with orange tinted glass, perched on the top of her head. Violet immediately recognises the Latias. "So…'the girlfriend'..." Violet growls, pointing both handguns at the Latias, who quickly recoils in surprise. "Oh-w-wait! You were with Jackson! Look, I'm sorry! That Umbreon, she...did something to me!"

The Latias defends, holding her claws out in submission. Violet ponders for a moment, before dropping the guns. "That same Umbreon is also influencing Mayrum, much like she did with you. We're trying to stop her, what's happening in that cell?" Violet orders. Jasmine looks to the door worriedly, "It sounds like Jackson's fighting something, but I don't have the clearance to open the door!" She shouts. Violet quickly shoves Jasmine out of the way, placing her hand on a scanner. Her determined look grows sullen, as she looks to the Latias. "You should know, Jackson's lost his memory. He won't remember you." Violet explains, causing the dragon's eyes to widen. "W-what?" She stammers. "Also...he has light magic." Violet continues. "It's a long story, we'll fill you in later. Do you know Psychic?" Violet asks. Jasmine quickly forgets about her heartbreak to nod.

"Good, the door's about to open. Get ready."

"R-right. Jasmine, by the way."

"Violet."

"...Wait, Covelight?"

* * *

**UP NEXT: CHAPTER 12 - INTO THE FALL.**

**This took WAY TOO LONG to write.** **Sorry for the wait but I hope it was worth it!**

**Took a lil' break when writing this chapter, thought I'd do some reading for a bit, cuz I need to refresh my mind, y'know? Discovered LuanOTP/Awesome Sawss' "That Glaceon" and it's sequel "That Sylveon" Good stuff, nice and lowkey compared to the heavy action of Covelight, (More on that later) Anyway, check it out. First story in a while to really suck me in. (Even added a cameo, just cuz I felt like it.)**

**Anyways, sorry for blue balling y'all with the Nightmare Pluto (yes, that's the official name) fight. I just thought it'd be weird if suddenly all of these characters came to Jackson's rescue without any explanation. Besides, I haven't given Violet enough love in this story, so this was a great opportunity. The next chapter is gonna be fun. Jackson fights Mayrum, Cobalt gets a minigun, Jackson manages to upgrade his flash pulse, it'll be sick...and probably very long. Stay tuned, everyone! (All 10 of you. Lookin' at you.)**

**This is Elysium over and out!**


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